Residents at wits’ end over simian menace

GREATER NOIDA: Residents of several sectors in Greater Noida complained on Sunday about increasing monkey menace in their areas.
Nearly 30 cases of monkeys attacking people have been reported in Sectors Alpha 1, Gama 1, Gama 2, Swarn Nagri, Beta 1 and Beta 2 over the past few months. Some 20 residents, including eight children, have been bitten by monkeys in the surrounding villages like Patwari and Bisrakh.

While monkey menace has affected Greater Noida for the past four-five years, the problem has increased in the recent past, the residents alleged. One of the most serious incidents has been reported in Sector Alpha 1, where five monkeys attacked 62-year-old Devrari Devi when she was holding her six-months-old granddaughter in her arms.

“She had gone to collect some clothes from the terrace when five monkeys attacked her from behind. They bit her in the face, right arm and right leg. The baby also got hurt as my mother tried to save her,” said Devrari’s son, Dharmendra Singh.

The elderly woman remained admitted in Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital where doctors kept her under observation for five days.

“Since the wounds were very deep, the doctors said a plastic surgery might be needed in case they did not heal,” said Singh.

Jitendra Bhati, the president of the residents welfare association (RWA) of Alpha 1, said that over the past three months, at least four incidents of residents being attacked by monkeys have come up in the sector.

There have been at least five such incidents in Sector Beta 1 during the same time frame. A resident of A block, Swarupa Chatterjee (60), has been the latest victim. She was attacked by a monkey on Holi when she had gone out to collect clothes from the balcony.

“He had been staring at the vegetables and fruits kept there for quite some time. I picked up a stick and before I could raise it, the monkey came and bit my leg. He started biting my finger too and did not relent despite multiple attempts to drive him away,” said Chatterjee.

The residents have made several complaints to the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) about the matter, but no action has been taken so far.

KK Singh, the general manager (projects) of GNIDA, told TOI that since the simians cannot be killed, they have to be caught and released. The problem persists because the monkey catchers in Dadri leave them in Greater Noida while the ones catching them from various sectors of Greater Noida, leave them in Dadri.

“We’re looking at a year-long tender to hire a company so the problem is addressed for entire year. It should happen within a month,” he said.

However, residents rued that since the tender process usually takes months, the Authority clearly has no immediate solution for the problem.