Monkey menace bites Mohali, 26 cases in two months

MOHALI: Be careful when you visit prime sectors of the city beautiful on foot. Handle your belongings carefully as monkey menace is on the rise and can attack you anytime.
The fear of monkeys has taken a toll in the city and surprisingly, most of the cases are being reported from the prime sectors.
According to the data provided by the officials of the Sector 19 dispensary, which is the closest sectors and where 70% of the monkey attack cases are reported, a total of 26 cases have been reported till Thursday this year.
Mandeep, a resident of Sector 7, said, "The municipal corporation (MC) should pull up their socks and not leave a single spot of garbage. As monkeys come here and find fruits for themselves in garbage bins."
"In 2019, 231 cases were reported and most of them were from Sector 7 and Sector 8," said Narinder, one of the officials at the Sector 19 dispensary.
Harkirat Singh Saini, a resident of the Sector 8, said, "Monkey menace is a common sight in our sector. Monkeys come on the top floor of our house and open the doors themselves. It has been many times that they have taken fruits kept inside, but now we keep our doors locked as it is risky for all of us."
Meanwhile, experts claim that monkeys are scared of snakes and one should keep looking for snakes within their surroundings or at rooftops or boundary wall of your house.
Debendra Dalai, chief conservator of forests, UT administration, said, "Many cases are being received from Sector 8. In the past three years, if one goes by the data, approximately 690 monkeys were caught by our officials in the city and were released in the forest area."
The official further said one should not feed monkeys and if anyone was found doing the same, legal action would be taken.
According to health officials, monkey-bite cases are treated at six places in the city, including civil dispensaries in Sector 19 as well as one is in Sector 38. For emergency cases, officials claimed that one could visit Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 16, civil hospitals in Sectors 22 and 45 as well as Manimajra any time.