The State Forest minister Dinesh Aggarwal inaugurated the monkey sterilisation centre at the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre in Chidiyapur, Haridwar on Tuesday. The minister said that similar monkey sterilisation centres will also be built at Nainital, Almora and Tehri.
Aggarwal said that Uttarakhand is famous for its rich wildlife diversity but the general public is suffering much due to human-monkey conflict. He said that male macaques will be sterilised in the first stage after which female macaques will also be sterilised some time after this. This will help stall population growth among the simians and provide relief to the public. The minister said that the sterilisation centre at Chidiyapur will be operate with help from experts from Himachal Pradesh who will also train veterinarians here in the procedure. Apart from this, the State Government is also planning to open one reptile park and two butterfly parts in the State to boost tourism, he added. Department officials and local politicians were also present on the occasion.