Hyderabad: Telangana high court has directed the state govt to explain measures taken to address the monkey menace in the state.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara gave the directions on Monday while hearing a PIL requesting the govt to resolve the issue, which has become a serious concern in the rural areas. The bench directed the state to file its response in four weeks.
The high court converted a letter written by M Mallanna, president, Telangana Rythu Samasyala Sadhana Samithi, detailing the violent acts of monkeys. Mallanna alleged that due to approximately 3 crore monkey population in the state, people living in the villages, farmers in particular, were facing a lot of mental as well as financial problems.
“The then chief minister assured that the govt would take permanent measures to prevent the monkey menace in every village, but no such steps were implemented to date,” he wrote in a letter to the high court.
He said that the problem was worsening in villages, and the situation was so scary that not only children and women but also men were scared to go outside due to monkeys.
“Monkeys are entering homes in groups, removing tiles, and biting, if obstructed. Thousands of acres of vegetables, pulses, maize, and groundnut crops were destroyed. Some farmers were resorting to other crops as they cannot plant these,” he said and urged the high court to direct the govt to take necessary steps to address the menace.
Government pleader Poornachandra Rao argued that a PIL on the issue was filed earlier and a detailed counter-affidavit was also filed in the court. After hearing the arguments, the bench instructed the registry to attach the PIL to the previous one and posted the matter to the next date of hearing.