South civic body gives up, tells HC it can't catch monkeys

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has finally admitted that it is helpless in the face of the monkey menace in areas under its jurisdiction. The civic body informed the High Court on Monday that it cannot catch monkeys as there were not enough monkey-catchers in the city.

Interestingly, the civic body also shifted the responsibility to the Delhi government's Wildlife Department, stating that it was the "appropriate body" to perform the task and relocate the simians to the Asola-Bhati Sanctuary.

In its application filed before a Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, the SDMC sought modification in the High Court's March 14, 2007, direction to the municipality to catch monkeys and relocate them to the sanctuary.

It appealed to the court to give the task to the Wildlife Department, as "it was the appropriate body to carry out the HC direction under the Wildlife Protection Act".

The corporation stated that it had put out several advertisements to recruit monkey-catchers and had even increased the amount to be paid to them to Rs 1,200, but no applications came in. It stated it even wrote to Chief Wildlife Wardens of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan, to provide monkey-catchers but there was no response.

The SDMC also complained that the Delhi government did not even provide cages for the monkeys. The civic body was responding to a petition filed by the New Friends Colony residents, who have alleged that monkeys from Asola-Bhati have moved into nearby residential areas and are reportedly attacking children.