Find solution to Delhi’s monkey menace: Vice-president to govt
NEW DELHI : On Tuesday the vicepresident M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha said his official residence is not unaffected by the simian problem that the rest of the city complains about and that the government should find a solution for it.
The disclosure was made by the VP after INLD MP Ram Kumar Kashyap, during zero hour, raised the issue of monkey menace in the capital. The MP referred to a colleague who was delayed for a committee meeting because he was waylaid by monkeys, who also attacked his son.
While some members found the topic raised by Kashyap mirthful, the VP was quick to point out that he faced a similar problem.
Making a tongue-in-cheek remark; referring to his former party colleague and minister Maneka Gandhi, who is also an animal rights activist, Naidu said, “Hope Maneka Gandhi is not here…but some solution has to be found,” he told minister of state for parliamentary affairs Vijay Goel.
In 2014, when Naidu was the union minister for urban development he informed the Upper House that the New Delhi Municipal Council has hired 40 people disguising themselves as langurs to scare away the simians from around Parliament. In response to a question by the then BSP MP Ambeth Rajan, Naidu said that the NDMC was using rubber bullet guns for scaring away monkeys and a team of dog catchers visits Parliament and around to catch unimmunised and unsterilised stray dogs. These steps were taken after Gandhi campaigned against using langurs for chasing monkeys away.