Monkey menace hits Stadium swimming pool in Ahmedabad, staff armed with firecrackers

AHMEDABAD: The Stadium swimming pool in Navrangpura, which has its summer batches running packed, is struggling to ward off some unwelcome visitors - monkeys.
One of the largest and most popular pools run by the civic body is struggling to get rid of simian menace. Sources said that a troop of monkeys has made a mango tree on the premises their home and has been spreading panic among the swimmers. In the past few days, they have scratched a female swimmer and pushed a staff member.
The pool administration has equipped its maintenance staff with firecrackers to scare the monkeys away and even plucked all the ripe mangoes from the tree, but the menace has not abated, said sources. Now, the swimming pool members have been asked not to feed these monkeys in the hope that the animals will eventually leave the place.
A staff member at the swimming pool said that the monkeys are found at the pool premises from 3pm-6pm. "They come to have the mangoes on the tree near the pool. Since some of the pool members and residents from nearby societies keep feeding them, the animals keep coming to the pool every day. All the ripe mangoes on the tree have been plucked and the security personnel have also been given firecrackers to scare the monkeys away," the employee said.
He said that members who are seen feeding the monkeys bananas and biscuits have been asked to refrain from doing so.
"I come to the swimming pool every day with my son. A couple of days ago, a fellow female swimmer was attacked by monkeys and received minor scratches. Sometimes, these monkeys come too close to the pool, and it scares the kids," said a member on condition of anonymity.