Officials of the Thane forest department had left the district on Wednesday morning to tackle the monkey menace at Cuffe Parade, but they haven’t managed to reach the city yet.
Residents have claimed that forest officials are deliberately delaying work. However, the forest department said an official was sent there, but the society members did not cooperate.
After The Asian Age reported about the incident on Wednesday, the forest department assured the area’s residents that a team would visit and help them. The residents of Sainara apartments, who were in contact with the forest officials, claimed that the latter has turned a deaf ear to them. Haresh Hathiramani, one of the residents of the building, said, “I was in regular contact with the team that left from Thane and was to arrive in our society. In my last conversation with the officials, I asked them to contact me once they arrived in the area so that I could meet them, but there has been no communication since then.”
When contacted, range forest officer Santosh Kank of the Thane forest department said that the team had met the society members and local corporator Makarand Narwekar.
“My team had been to the society in Colaba with a rescue van and a cage. When the team reached there, the residents did not allow us to set up the trap and said they would allow us to go ahead only after holding a meeting,” said Mr Kank. Another forest department official, who was part of the team, also claimed that they had visited Cuffe Parade and Sainara apartments.
However, when contacted, Mr Narwekar said, “No forest department team visited Cuffe Parade to my knowledge. A team had been to Colaba on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile, residents of Sainara haven’t seen the monkeys in the last three days.
“They appear to be local monkeys and they might have been either dumped or managed to escape from their keepers. Hence, they probably know the area very well,” explained Pawan Sharma, founder of Resqink Association of Wildlife Welfare (RAWW). Commenting on their behavioural pattern, he added, “Their movement pattern is interchanging. This is due to climate change and human interaction with them.”
The residents of Sainara apartments as well as other Cuffe Parade residents have expressed concern over the department’s “inaction.”
