Activists want civic agency to release langur hired to deal with menace of stray simians

The Public Works Department (PWD) might have thought it to be a good idea, but animal protection groups have sent a written complaint to the police asking for the release of the langur hired by the civic agency to sort out the problem of stray monkeys at its headquarters. The building in ITO also has the head office of Delhi police.


Tail of woes: The simian that has been hired by the PWD. file pic

The International Organisation for Animal Protection (OIPA) in India has sent a written complaint to all concerned agencies, asking for the langur to be rescued. The organisation has even started an online petition in this regard, which it says is receiving a positive response.

"This is completely illegal. Langur is a protected animal under the Wild Life Protection Act, so they should not be used like this and the animal must be rescued. Langur is deployed at most government buildings and even at the airport and we have been writing to various agencies to protect them. Even a PIL of mine is pending," said Naresh Kadyan of OIPA.

"We want action against the owner of the langur who every day ties him up with a rope, keeping a bowl of water next to him. This is cruelty and government should not ignore this," he added.

According to the information, the six-and-a-half-year-old langur named Raju was deployed at the building as police personnel and PWD officials were being troubled by stray monkeys.

Raju has been assigned by the officials now for a month and his job can be extended depending upon his performance. A PWD official said on the condition of anonymity that first they had decided to report the matter to the police but later Raju was called in.

"We knew that police will not be helpful in this matter. In the meantime we came to know that a few langurs have been deployed in some government buildings after monkey menace was reported there. This matter was discussed and all of us agreed to hire a langur to drive away the monkeys," said the official.