Nagpur; Leading News Service: There is a plan to sterilize apes and monkeys in Konkan agriculture and orchards to eradicate them. State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has informed that a proposal will be sent to the Central Government for permission to carry out a monkey sterilization campaign in Konkanpatta on the lines of Himachal Pradesh.

Orchards and agriculture in Konkan are in trouble due to monkeys. Also, there is often an atmosphere of terror in the residential areas of the castles as the walls, pipes and sheets of the houses are being destroyed by the monkey herds. Therefore, the settlement of these monkeys is being demanded. The traditional methods of killing monkeys and apes stopped after the ban on hunting of wild animals. Hence, there is an unrestricted increase in the number of monkeys. These gangs of monkeys attack agriculture and fruit crops. Also, cause massive destruction. Due to this, mangoes, bananas, vegetables and fruits are damaged on a large scale. Often these sly monkeys scratch the entire blossom of the mango. Additional cost of maintenance has to be borne as humans have to be employed to guard against monkeys.

Local level agitations and elections were held in Konkan for the demand to stop the nuisance of monkeys. However, there was no solution. As it is technically impossible to show the damage caused by these wild animals, Konkanites do not even get compensation. In this regard, Minister Mungantiwar said that due to the nuisance of monkeys and apes in Konkan, agriculture, orchards and houses are getting damaged. The committee appointed to suggest solutions to this problem has come up with two options of changing the compensation system and sterilization on the lines of Himachal Pradesh. Sterilization campaign in Himachal Pradesh has paid off. However, permission from the central government is required for that.

In Himachal Pradesh, monkeys have come to half

Sterilization drive to control monkey population in Himachal Pradesh In 2004, there were more than 3 lakh monkeys in Himachal Pradesh. However, since 2007, this number has halved due to sterilization campaigns. According to the 2020 census, now there are 1 lakh 36 thousand 443 monkeys left here. In this campaign, the monkeys are initially caught and kept in cages in sterilization centers. These monkeys are kept here for three days. Meanwhile, they are sterilized scientifically. After sterilization, the monkeys are kept under observation for some time and released back into the natural habitat.