Residents of Yogi Hills in Mulund are being put in anxiety since the past few months due to increasing menace of monkeys coming from the bordering Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

Residents claim that monkeys from the forest visit their residential complex daily, further entering society's and apartments in groups for food hunting. There have been incidents where a group of monkeys entering the kitchen of various apartments in search of food, claim residents citing that they have brought their concern in the notice of forest officials repeatedly but they're not able to get rid of the menace.

Nishit Modi, a resident of Yogi Hills said, "I reside in Yogi Hills since last 18 years, and nowadays increasingly there are incidents of monkeys visiting the area in groups. They have entered our home once in our absence by managing to open our window and further resulting in throwing electronic appliances in our home, and eating food from the kitchen."

Modi added, "We are forced to lock our windows and keep the sliding shut for the whole day along with night hours fearing monkeys will enter our house. Generally, there is a pattern in terms of them visiting the area that is mostly during morning hours."

Yogi Hills, a residential complex having around 15-20 residential buildings is right next to the south-east end of SGNP. It was constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000 after which it was even alleged that the residential complex was built on forest land.

In the past, there have been several instances of leopards visiting the area has also been witnessed due to close proximity to forest.

When contacted an official from forest department claimed it is not possible to completely ensure monkeys don't visit the area due to its close proximity to the forest but residents can definitely ensure that their visits are avoided.

The official said, "We have sensitised the residents already on how to react or act if there is an entry of say a leopard or monkey in their area. But residents need to understand that they need to stop feeding the monkeys and dogs in the area. If you feed monkeys, they tend to visit more, and if you continue feeding dogs, they become healthy that in a way invites leopard to visit the area in hunt of dogs."

The forest official added, "If we do get specific complaints, we do visit the area to lay a trap by caging the monkeys and later leaving them in forest area but their visits can only be minimised and not complete washed off."

Further, residents from the area claim they have become habitual to the frequent visits, and have started storing crackers that are busted and used for scaring monkeys.

Prakash Paddikal of Hillside Residents Welfare Association said, "I have installed nets in my grill area to ensure monkey don't enter because they somehow manage to enter even if you have grills fitted. Also, something that can be done to avoid monkeys don't visit is to stop giving them food. We can't blame the forest department also because it's not humanly possible to trap so many monkeys. "