In 2017, a monkey had entered the Delhi Assembly premises. Archive To control the monkey problem in and around the Vidhan Sabha complex, the Delhi government is looking for ‘experts’ well versed in primate psychology to tackle the situation.
Several monkeys are often spotted entering the Assembly and surrounding areas. In 2017, a monkey had entered the Delhi Assembly, prompting speaker Ram Niwas Goel to raise concerns about MLAs being bitten.
“The monkeys have become a big problem and are making work difficult. Some officials nearly got bitten… monkeys snatch food, files from employees… they jump on cars parked in the complex and damage them,” said a government official who works at the Vidhan Sabha.
The official added that the process of getting “experts, who have knowledge of and understand primate psychology”, has been going on for about a year. Earlier, there were people who used to mimic the sound of a langur and use other techniques to scare them away from the premises. “Now we have decided to hire people who have a deeper knowledge and understand primate psychology. They will be deployed in shifts to control the situation,” said the official.
To this end, the Public Works Department (PWD) issued a tender on March 5 to engage services of monkey ‘experts’. The estimated cost of this project is Rs 12.91 lakh.
The official added, “Currently, there are two people to keep monkeys away; we are planning to hire six more. The ‘experts’ will be deployed from 10 am to 6 pm from Monday to Saturday — two from 6 am to 2 pm and two from 2 pm to 10 pm from Monday to Friday, and one expert will be deployed on Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. The timings may be changed as per requirement.”
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