The monkey menace in Lutyens Delhi has not even spared the official residence of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by Indian National Lok Dal MP, Ram Kumar Kashyap during the Zero Hour.
As Kashyap recalled that a Member of Parliament was delayed for a committee meeting as he was attacked by monkeys, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu revealed that even the official residence of the Vice President of India is facing monkey menace. He also told Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel that some solution has to be found about monkey menace in Delhi.
This is not the first time that the issue has been raised. Last year, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had even issued a circular asking staff not to throw eatables in dustbins or open areas as they attract the monkeys and noted that "presence of monkeys has become quite often in Parliament House Complex."
In 2016, House Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by the BJP MP V P Badnore had vowed invited comments from experts on how to address the issue of monkeys' increased presence and activities in Parliament complex.
In 2012, the then Finance Minister in UPA II government Pranab Mukherjee had suggested planting of more fruit-bearing trees in the outskirts of Delhi to shift the attention of the monkeys there.
Parliament Security Service has three hired ape handlers to handle the issue. One looks after Parliament House Annexe and its extension building, another after inner precincts of Parliament House and yet another after the outer precincts of Parliament House and Parliament Library.
Armed with a whistle and a catapult, they chase away the monkey but they do not hit the monkeys with any pebble or stick as “hurting the monkeys is a crime”, confides one of them.
Even today when Naidu pointed out the monkey problem, he said in a jest "Hope Maneka Gandhi is not there," referring to the Women and Child Development Minister, who is an avid animal rights activist.
Former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad (during UPA I government) used to feed bananas to monkeys every Tuesday from his office room in Parliament Building. He had to be told by staff to avoid doing it.
Parliament canteen on the first floor of Parliament where MPs and journos dine are favourite spots of the Simians. In the summer season the floor above the Lok Sabha gallery where the Air Condition Plant is installed is another leisure spot for them, confide the handlers.
The problem is not confined to Parliament alone. Even the Delhi Assembly is in grip of it. A few years back Delhi authorities gave a thought to relocating monkeys from the Lutyens zone to Aravali hills but the plan did not materialise.
In 2014, when Naidu was Urban Development Minister, NDMC had hired 40 trained young people, who disguised themselves as langurs for the purpose of scaring away monkeys. Wearing an ape suit, they also had "rubber bullets" with them to scare the monkeys. This was done as monkeys are scared of langurs but since the langur has been included in Schedule II of the Wild Life Protection Act 1972, its use to drive away the monkeys is a punishable offence.
There are also many stories from the Lutyens zone of MPs refusing to occupy their allotted bungalows due to monkey menace. One such bungalow was on Kamraj Road.