Vrindavan, 2018.03.19 (VT): Vrindavan’s monkey menace is finally being tackled as MRC Vrinda Charitable Trust is taking the initiative to deal with the growing population of monkeys, which pose a threat to the lives of both local residents and pilgrims alike.
In the last couple of years, the holy city has seen rising incidents of injuries, deaths and harassment to infants, children and adults caused by these primates. (Most recently.) Considering the alarming situation, the Trust decided to roll out the project without wasting any further time despite zero funding and support from the concerned authorities.
Dr Abhishek Sharma, who heads MRC Vrinda, has been working for the last seven years to combat the problem, seeking approval and funding at various levels without much success. Struggling to cut through the bureaucracy and red tape and knocking on the doors of the local and state ministry, all he got was false promises and assurances. That did not cause his determination to fade.
The MVDA and the municipal corporation were ready to give support to the idea of moving the monkeys outside the boundaries of Braj, but the Trust was not convinced that this was a good idea. They felt that releasing the monkeys in a different place would not help eradicate the problem but rather move the problem elsewhere. His preferred solution was sterilization, by which the monkey population growth would be gradually reduces and eventually controlled.
Despte this, Dr. Sharma continued in his efforts to get approval for his plans, which was finally heard by the Mathura administration and Forest Department. However they have only allowed him a quota of 300 monkeys to be caught and released on the outskirts of Braj where there is ample vegetation catering to their food and shelter.
Dr Sharma is not very happy with the proposal but due to non permission for sterilization and non availability of funds, they had to agree to it for the time being. However he will continue to fight until he gets the approval for the sterilization program.
Despite lack of funds the Trust has gone ahead with the project and got a special vehicle built for catching the monkeys. It cost them about 1.5 lakh rupees. It has an iron cage with two sliding doors. Both the doors are operated from the inside.
Monkeys walk into the trap at Govindaji Temple.
Chickpeas, rice and other food items are placed inside the truck and the iron doors are kept open. Once a group of monkeys comes inside to eat, the inner gate is dropped with the help of a rope and the monkeys are trapped inside. Some monkeys come to see what is going on and the second door is also dropped, trapping a few more of the beasts. In this way, 25-30 monkeys can be caught at a time.
No monkeys are injured in the process and they are safely transported outside the Braj area. The cost of the van, chickpeas and food items, man power, diesel etc. is all borne personally by Dr Sharma. In the last few days the trust has caught monkeys from Ram Krishna Mission, Jaisingh Ghera, Govind Dev , Sheetal Chaya and few other places with dense populations.
The license given for the project expires on 27th March 2018, during which period they are allowed to catch only 300 monkeys. Of this number, 250 have already been caught, but the Trust is hopeful that with the help of forest department they will continue to get support for the cause and will continue to lobby for the sterilization of monkeys which should be more successful in controlling the monkey population over the long term.
The Trust does not believe in removing the monkeys completely from Braj but they should be living in harmony with human and nature. After all Braj is incomplete without the beautiful past times of Radha and Krishna and their wonderful associates in the form of trees, rivers, peacocks and of course the monkeys.
So sad, soon to be exiled from the Dham!
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