On the crawl: 20 monitor lizards caught in a month in Noida

NOIDA: The district forest department has caught at least 20 monitor lizards from various parts of Noida and Greater Noida in the past one month after residents reported sightings. The reptiles have been released in the nearby forested areas.
Although Bengal monitor lizards are not poisonous and not known to attack humans, residents said the reptiles the reptiles are being sighted often now. According to officials, last year, around three reptiles were caught in six months.
Last week, a monitor lizard was caught from a residential area at Sector 14 and Sector 28 residents reported sightings on Wednesday.
“We have caught around 20 monitor lizards from various parts of the city over the past one month. Being a marshy riverbank, Noida and Greater Noida are natural habitats for the monitor lizards. With so much construction taking place and less vehicles on roads, these lizards have become more visible now,” said PK Srivastava, the district forest officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.
He added that residents should inform forest officials if they spot the reptiles.
“We usually send our teams to capture them and then they are released in the Okhla Bird Sanctuary or Surajpur wetlands. They are basically harmless so there is no reason to panic. Residents should just inform us in case they spot one,” Srivastava added.
The Bengal monitor (Varanus bengalensis), or common Indian monitor, is found in India and southeast Asia. “They are considerably harmless and seen commonly in any swampy habitat. We have been catching them frequently from various residential areas here,” said Vidyasagar Pandey, an official from the forest department.
A Sector 28 resident said they have seen a monitor lizard in the locality. “A monitor lizard has been doing the rounds of our sector for the past few weeks. But we are not being able to catch it because it is not staying at a single location,” said a resident of Sector 28.
At Sector 14, a monitor lizard was caught recently. “We had seen a monitor lizard and informed the forest department and it was caught last week,” said a resident.