Langur handler found COVID-19 positive, Rail Bhavan asks its staff to quarantine

A langur handler at Rail Bhawan has been found COVID-19 positive and a few officials working in the building were asked to home quarantine for 14 days.

The langur handler was hired by Railway Ministry to chase away monkeys in the building.

After getting information about the langur handler found positive, the Railway Board has asked some of its staff mostly working in General Branch to go on self-quarantine. Though these staff may not have come to direct contact with handler, the railway Bhavan official suspect that few staff members may have indirect contact with him, said an official.

The Rail Bhavan hired him to chase away monkey from the building and he frequently visits the inside the building as well. Since the Rail Bhavan is in the Central Vista and adjacent to Parliament Complex, a large group of monkeys always roam in and around the building. His last visit to the building was May 4.

The Rail Bhavan already closed for two-day (May 14 and 15 ) for sanitisation after a Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff working on the fourth floor found COVID-19 positive.

With simian menace in Lutyens Delhi is giving a big headache to its residents as they snatch bags, tiffin boxes and food packets. Instances of monkey bites are common in National Capital. To address the problem, several government buildings hire contractors for deploying langur handlers. When the handler roams with his black-faced langur, monkeys run away with fear.

These handlers mostly from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are camping in Delhi with their trained langurs. Both government and private firms hire them to scare the monkeys.

The Rhesus macaques are protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and killing them attracts punishment.