Delhi Metro strikes to maintain monkeys at bay | Newest Information Delhi

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The Delhi Metro is making an attempt to sort out a monkey drawback that has slowed down its stations for over twenty years now. And it hopes signage that asks folks to not feed or lure monkeys, and deploying staffers armed with bamboo sticks, will hold simians away from its stations, particularly in areas surrounded by inexperienced areas or the Ridge, Delhi’s inexperienced lungs. The company additionally plans to rent individuals who can mimic the sound of langurs, to scare the monkeys away.

Efforts to maintain monkeys away, officers mentioned, had been stepped up final 12 months after a video of a monkey taking a visit on a Metro prepare went viral on-line.

Officers of the Delhi Metro Rail Company (DMRC) mentioned indicators have been put in in any respect its stations throughout its 391km community the place conflicts between people and monkeys are a routine drawback, or the place entry is simple for simians.

These indicators ask passengers to not lure monkeys with meals, and to disregard a monkey if noticed. They remind commuters to maintain a protected distance from the monkeys, and to keep away from hitting them. In addition they bear helpline numbers, together with DMRC’s personal (155370), the New Delhi Municipal Council’s (NDMC) monkey or cattle menace helpline (23348300, 23348301) and wildlife helpline numbers (9871963535, 46601096).

Although staffers are armed with bamboo sticks, or different non-conductive materials, within the occasion of a monkey sighting, they’re warned towards hurting the animals.

“Our workers is counselled to not hit or hurt the monkey or some other animal that has entered the Metro station. Workers should hold hitting the bottom with a stick to make sure that monkeys or some other animal depart the Metro premises,” mentioned Anuj Dayal, principal govt director of company communications at DMRC.

In latest weeks,, monkeys have been noticed on the Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sukhdev Vihar Metro stations.

Delhi has lengthy had an issue with its monkey inhabitants, with a 2007 Delhi excessive courtroom ordering simians to be shifted from the town to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary after an assault by monkeys led to a senior authorities official falling from his roof.

It’s estimated the sanctuary presently has over 25,000 monkeys, at the same time as there is no such thing as a rely for Delhi’s whole simian rely, with the state planning a recent monkey census this 12 months in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India.

In December final 12 months, the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) mentioned it is going to effective folks discovered feeding monkeys, after a suggestion from the state forest division.

Of Delhi’s 10 Metro strains, the Yellow (Samaypur Badli to Huda Metropolis Centre), Magenta (Botanical Backyard-Janakpur West) and Blue (Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida Digital Metropolis/Vaishali) strains most ceaselessly report simian sightings.

Although the Yellow line passes by way of the Southern Ridge close to Chhattarpur, most sightings on the road are on the Kashmere Gate station in north Delhi.

Metro officers mentioned they had been now additionally taking a look at the potential for hiring extra folks to mimic langur sounds.

“Such folks may be employed to scare away monkeys at spots the place they’re ceaselessly noticed. We might additionally use repellent gadgets that make shrill noises,” Dayal added.

Final June, a monkey was noticed on a Metro prepare from Yamuna Financial institution to Indraprastha, with the simian reportedly coming into the Akshardham station. Whereas no passengers had been harmed, the video of the incident went viral, prompting the company to create an ordinary working process to sort out the issue.

Thus consists of asking prepare operators to make common bulletins asking passengers to remain calm and transfer to different coaches if a monkey enters the prepare, officers mentioned.

“All efforts obligatory will then be made to maneuver the animal out of the prepare with the help of station workers. Equally, if the monkey is noticed on a transferring prepare, bulletins will likely be made to alert the passengers and the animal will then be moved out on the subsequent station,” Dayal mentioned, including that if efforts to maneuver the monkey out fail, all passengers will likely be requested to get off, and the empty prepare taken to the depot to take away the animal.

Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist-in-charge on the Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP) in north Delhi, mentioned monkeys are seen in city settings even the place the Ridge isn’t close to, with the assure of meals a significant component behind their excessive rely.

“We’ve got to cease feeding monkeys at public locations and so the DMRC’s strategy is nice. These monkeys, or any animal, is simply in a position to breed freely if there may be meals safety. By feeding them, a synthetic meals safety is being created. This additionally makes the monkeys extra reliant on people, destroying their pure foraging nature,” he mentioned.

Sonya Ghosh, a member of a Delhi excessive court-appointed committee to translocate monkeys, mentioned the state’s simian census ought to put an precise quantity on the issue, with a plan then wanted to sterilise monkeys in high-population or battle areas first.

“Translocation isn’t the answer, however as a substitute, the monkeys must be sterilised, with out being separated from their pack,” she mentioned.

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