Authorities in the national capital of Delhi are placing life-sized langur cut-outs and hiring ‘monkey men’ to ensure that monkeys don’t become a menace during the upcoming G20 meet.
New Delhi's city council has hired more than 30 "monkey wallahs", or "monkey-men", who mimic the hoots and screams of the aggressive langur monkey -- the natural enemy of the smaller rhesus macaque primates who wreak havoc in the capital's leafy government areas, according to news agency AFP.
The unchecked population of monkeys has led to instances of the primates attacking and biting bystanders in Delhi. Monkeys have also been known to trash gardens and rooftops, and chase people for food.
Even though extensive preparations have been undertaken ahead of the G20 summit, authorities are worried that troops of monkeys may charge in front of the conveys of cars ferrying presidents and prime ministers from the Group of 20 nations. In view of this, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Forest Department of the city government have taken steps to ensure that monkeys are not allowed to play spoilsport during the important G20 summit, to be held from September 9-10.
About 30 to 40 monkey men have been hired to mimic the call of the langur and keep monkeys away from G20 venues.
“We can't remove the monkeys from their natural habitat, so we have deployed a team of 30-40 men who are trained to scare away monkeys,” Satish Upadhyay, the vice-chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council, told AFP on Wednesday.
“We will deploy one man each at the hotels where the delegates would be staying, as well as in places where monkey sightings have been reported,” said Upadhyay.
Along with this, around a dozen life-sized cut-outs of langurs have also been placed around important locations. Authorities are also planning to place fruits and vegetables at certain locations so monkeys don’t come out to residential areas in search of food.
Wildlife expert Faiyaz Khudsar said the possible reason why monkeys are scared of langurs maybe they are bigger in size. However, a more practical reason is that a langur is trained to scare away the monkeys, he added.
(With inputs from AFP and PTI)
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