Shimla : The Shimla Nagrik Sabha, a CPM backed body will protest on Monday against the failure of the civic authorities to check the rising attacks on people by monkeys,langurs and stray dogs in the town.
“Monkeys, langurs, stray dogs have been attacking people at many places since long but the Shimla municipal corporation seems to be sleeping,†said Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, Convenor of the Shimla Nagrik Sabha(SNS).
“The problem of simian population is acute in Jakhu,Tutikandi,Nabha,Fagli,Kaithu,Sanjauli,Summer hill,Totu,Baluganj,Chotta Shimla and Kasumpti.Angry residents even blocked traffic at Tutkikandi on Friday, †he said.
The SNS has criticised the state government for using unscientific and outdated methods to check this menace.
Tanwar said the monkey steralisation programme is so slow that it could decades to control the numbers, so there is no choice but to start culling these animals as an immediate relief to the public.
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
An important issue raised. However, the stray dog menace and the accompanying problem of unhygeinic roads due to the stray dogs’ poops all over the place is relavant in the context of Himachal Pradesh. Whereas the State appears to claim that it would abolish open defecation by human population(although it is a far cry because thousands of migrant labourers defecate in the open besides a sizeable rural population!), it has yet to think of capturing the stray dogs and put them in shelter enclosures. The process of neutering the stray dogs also needs to be effectively implemented because the average life span of a stray dog is around 5 years in the best of circulstances and thus it should not take longer than 5-6 years to rid the State of the problem of stray dogs.