GUNTUR: Guntur Municipal Corporation’s monkey catching drive is giving good results. Already Acharya Nagarjuna University has kept a Hanuman Langur in its campus to restrain monkeys from entering the campus. Now others are demanding the same method elsewhere in Guntur city.
The GMC has caught 500 monkeys which were disturbing public in Guntur. Pattabhipuram, Gorantla, Brodipeta, Bongalarabeedu and other areas.
The locals of Gorantla in Guntur said that a group of 3-4 monkeys suddenly comes to their houses and snatches food items. Former sarpnach of Gorantla, Y. Venugopal said that if people try to stop monkeys, they will retaliate and hurt. He said that children are becoming victims of the monkey menace often. As they lodged complaints, GMC pressed monkey catcher into action.
Similarly, locals of Pattabhipuram and Nallapadu, P. Rajassekhar and others lamented that GMC staff is trapping the monkeys, but the simians are returning frequently which has become a big problem to them. They asked the GMC to use Hunuman Langurs to prevent the entry of monkeys into the city.
GMC medical and health officer M. Nageswara Rao said that GMC conducted special drives twice and caught 500 monkeys. He added that monkeys are wandering near temples and residential areas so GMC is targeting those areas. He added that GMC brought one S. Jagga Rao from Kavali and paid him '1 lakh for catching 500 monkeys. He added that GMC is paying '200 per monkey and leaving the monkeys in Srisailam forests after sterilization, with the cooperation of forest department.
Mr. Nageswara Rao said that usually monkeys arrive at farm fields during harvest period from October to January and stray into nearby towns and cities. He said as Guntur is surrounded by farmlands, monkeys might have come to the city in search of food.He added that GMC would conduct more monkey catching drives to end the menace.
