Monkey menace back to haunt Mayur Vihar residents

A month after they were captured and relocated, the monkeys are back to haunt the residents of Mayur Vihar Phase-II. On Thursday, a monkey attacked another woman in the area. “She was returning to her residence in Vinod Nagar from work when the monkey bit her,” said Rajesh Sehgal, president, Residents’ Welfare Association, Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Block-B.

A month after they were captured and relocated, the monkeys are back to haunt the residents of Mayur Vihar Phase-II. On Thursday, a monkey attacked another woman in the area. “She was returning to her residence in Vinod Nagar from work when the monkey bit her,” said Rajesh Sehgal, president, Residents’ Welfare Association, Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Block-B.

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The victim, Seema Devi, was rushed to a nearby hospital immediately. According to residents, Seema Devi, who works as a domestic help, is still recuperating at the hospital.

Ironically, the langur that was hired to scare the monkeys also bit one of the residents earlier in the week.

“Pratul Sharma, a resident from our pocket, was bitten by a langur that we had hired to scare the monkeys. We are in a fix. There seems to be no solution to the problem,” Sehgal added. After the incident, residents of the area do not want to bring a langur to the colony.

“What if he bites the children tomorrow? There should be a permanent solution to the problem. Temporary solutions will not work,” said Anjali Mehta, a resident of Pocket-A.

What’s more, even the cages to trap the wild simians have proved to be of little use. “The cages were a very good deterrent, but as soon as they were removed, the monkeys returned. The cages should be placed here permanently,” said Ramesh Suri, a resident of Pocket-C. Last month, a group of monkeys had bitten a resident of Pocket B. The victim had to be placed in an intensive care unit for treatment.

The monkeys have made a comeback after the cages and monkey catchers were taken away from the area before the Commonwealth Games.

“Since the monkeys had run away after a few from their troop were captured, we asked the monkey catchers to move to other areas. They were not pulled out due to the Games. We send the catchers and a langur as soon as we get a complaint,” said an MCD official.