Possible Future Career: Monkey-Catcher

((The picture on the right is a langur))

Assam squads take on monkeys

29 Oct 2007, 0111 hrs IST,Ruhi Bhasin,TNN

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NEW DELHI: New monkey-catchers have been hired by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to deal with the monkey menace in the city. The officials from the veterinary department who had been sent to other states like Tamil Nadu and Assam in search of monkey-catchers have been successful in bringing back two teams of monkey-catchers from Assam - each team consists of four members. They will be put on duty on Monday.

Said director veterinary services R B S Tyagi: ‘‘Two new teams have been brought from Assam and they will start work from Monday. Since the monkey-catchers from other states have been seen to be more efficient, we will most likely assign the teams from Assam a particular zone to catch-monkeys in that area. The MCD is also planning to form a monkey-squad that will rush to a spot on receiving complaints of monkey menace.”

Besides this, another local monkey-catcher, Dilip Khan, has also approached the civic agency and his application form has been sent to the MCD commissioner A K Nigam.

Khan (40), who is a resident of Kabir Nagar in north Delhi claims that he is hired by various colony RWAs to catch monkeys and also scare them away by using langurs.

He said: ‘‘BJP councillor Raj Khurana told me about the fact that the civic agency needed monkey-catchers and I applied for the post. I will earn good money as they pay Rs 450 per monkey caught. My application has gone for approval to the authorities concerned. He has been catching monkeys for the last five years.

Besides catching monkeys, Khan also helped Khurana in campaigning for the municipal elections.

Khan added: ‘‘we are illiterate people and while MCD might have taken out advertisements for recruiting monkey-catchers, I didn’t get to know of it earlier. My son will help me out and my nieces and nephews will also provide a helping hand if I am hired by the civic agency. The MCD has also asked him to demonstrate his technique of catching monkeys to ensure that no cruelty is done while catching the simians.