As if the intermittent heavy rain was not enough for causing crop damage in the entire Beas Valley from Rohtang to Kulu, Mandi, Bilaspur and Kangra districts, monkeys have now joined the club. In the lower reaches of the State, the monkeys have been devastating the crops for a while now. Hundreds of monkeys in groups are ruining the crops and attacking the farmers who try to protect their crops. Many farmers have abandoned agriculture and making both ends meet by working as daily wage workers. “Menace by the simians has assumed alarming proportions. They are fearlessly entering the houses attacking the residents and plundering the eatables by opening the kitchen stores and fridges. Scared by them many children have died due to falling from roof-tops,” said a resident of Mandi.
Some time back the wife of a retired transport officer in Samkhetar locality of this town fell down as a king monkey entered their drawing room. In the same locality a 9-year old girl died by falling from a slab when a monkey pounced on her. Many morning walkers, particularly senior citizens, have stopped the morning walk due to the fear of monkeys who attack the passerby. The menace of monkeys has worsened after High Court stayed their culling and killing on a petition filed by a person from Mumbai when the State Government had made a crackdown on monkeys at Nahan by shooting them. Within a day the simians had abandoned the town. Various unions of farmers have been demanding the killing of the monkeys. The measures adopted to deal with the menace of monkeys have so far proved ineffective and not practical and have proved a mere exercise in futility, farmers say. Both the present and the former Chief Ministers, Virbhadra Singh and Prem Kumar Dhumal have been pressing for scientific and painless killing of the simians and other wild animals damaging the crops. But a policy is yet to be evolved.