GHMC floats tenders for monkey catchers

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is in a piquant situation. The response to tenders that it called for monkey catchers has been far from satisfactory. Officials state that agencies are not showing interest as it is not lucrative.

Inordinate delay in issuing permission for catching and releasing of monkeys by the forest department is making contractors shy away. They need to provide housing and feeding for a long period and incur huge expenditure.

Officials say, "On receiving complaints from the public, the contractor would arrange specially designed traps for catching the monkeys in the areas where monkey menace is reported.

The monkeys are brought to the GHMC Animal Care Centres and are kept in cages and provided food, water and veterinary aid also, until a sizable number are caught and permission from the forest department obtained for their release."

During the year, the GHMC is able to engage the agencies for catching monkeys only in Khairatabad and Secunderabad Zone and is utilising the services of the staff who were trained in catching monkeys in the remaining zones. Further, the GHMC is also sterilising the male monkeys before release in order to limit the monkey population.