Shimla: Monkeys on the way to Jakhu temple are making it difficult for the visitors, including tourists and local residents to visit the place, as they are being harassed badly by notorious and violent monkeys.
As the people walk upstairs towards the temple, monkeys sitting on both sides of the stairs begin to threaten and frighten, especially women and children. The increasing monkey menace is becoming an obstacle in their enthusiasm to visit the historical place which is famous for the 108 feet high Lord Hanuman statue installed here in recent years.
Keeping the religious sentiments associated with monkeys and Lord Hanuman, people are hesitant to kill them. In fact the devout treat them very gently, considering the monkeys to be gods in their own beings.
In this belief, people, especially tourists fee
d them channas etc. in order to please Lord Hanuman. But such beliefs of people have turned monkeys more bold and violent, as they don’t leave the way until they are given something to eat.
Surprisingly, these monkeys are frightened of only Jakhu Temple Committee people because they beat them with sticks when their pranks become intolerable.
On many occasion, these emboldened monkeys do bite the people who don’t give them anything to eat or are beaten by someone.
Women and children are the worst sufferers, as monkeys sometimes pull their dupttas and even slap children, forcing people to return back without visiting the temple.
Troubled by the monkeys and not satisfied with Shimla administration, Tulsi Ram, an old tourist from Maharashtra said, “The Jakhu monkeys made my life very miserable, when I was walking with my wife to the temple, suddenly a monkey jumped up and took away my spectacles, played around with them for sometime and then finally broke them.
With my glasses, it became extremely difficult for me to walk even , he added.
Over the year Shimla Municipal Corporation has on numerous times relocated thousands of monkeys to far distant forests but still the number of these monkeys, mainly at Jakhu, is increasing very fast, causing danger the lives of people.
A local resident Mrs. Seema Kaushik said, “Monkeys of Jakhu made my son cry when one of them first beat him and then bit his’ arm. It cost us a lot physically, financially as well as mentally.”
