The people visiting the famous Surkanda Devi temple near Chamba are facing monkey menace while visiting this shrine. The devotees are now demanding that the authorities take some action to prevent the simians from harassing the visitors.
According to the devotees visiting the shrine and the local residents the monkeys have been creating problems for the people in this area for about a month now. The monkeys have become so fearless that they enter the temple and take whatever is being offered to local deities with impunity.
The monkeys begin harassing the devotes while they are on their way up to temple on foot from Kaddukhal and snatch food and other items from their hands, especially of the children. The temple priests are forced to conduct prayers with the doors closed due to the fear of monkeys. The local residents have lodged protest at the forest department office in Chamba but the department has shown no interest towards resolving the problems being faced by the people.
The monkey menace has grown to such an alarming proportion that many devotees have been bitten by monkeys on refusing eatables to the simians at the temple. The residents also state that the menace of the monkeys is spreading to surrounding villages and until the authorities take effective action like relocating the monkeys away from the human settlements, the people here will continue to live in fear of the monkeys. The villagers are now demanding immediate respite from the problem failing which they would be forced to agitate on the streets.