Kolkata, Sep 6 : The authorities of Darjeeling Municipality have imposed a strict ban on the feeding of monkeys within the town area.

According to the Darjeeling Municipality Chairman Dipen Thakuri, the ban also includes a financial penalty clause.

'Anyone found feeding or offering food to monkeys, including its favourite food of banana, within the town area will be slapped with a financial penalty of Rs 5,000 each. This financial penalty will be applicable both for the local people and the tourists,' Thakuri said.

According to him, the decision of the civic authorities in the matter have been taken leaping in mind two aspects, the first is to prevent man-monkey conflict within the two area and the second is to ensure that that the monkeys go back to their original habit of arranging their own food from the nature, which are the jungles outside the town area instead of coming to town in search of food offered by the local people and tourists.

A senior official of the municipality said that the monkeys frequenting the town area from the nearby jungle were not that common even a few years back.

'Occasionally, only a few monkeys were spotted in the town areas. But the local people and the tourists spoiled their habits by feeding them or offering them food, especially the latter's favourite, the banana. Gradually, a larger number of monkeys started frequenting the town areas during the busy hours of the day since sunrise. These monkeys mainly frequented the Mall area, which remained crowded from early morning till late evening, since the availability of food and bananas offered by the people was maximum there,' he said.

Thereafter, the menace of human-monkey conflict started as the latter started snatching food from the hands of the people and even from the local food shops.

'Often, the people were attacked by monkeys for food. We want this menace to end. We also want to ensure that the monkeys go back to their original habit of arranging their own food from nature, which are the jungles outside the town area, instead of coming to the town area in search of food offered by the local people and tourists. So the ban, along with a financial penalty has been introduced,' Thakuri said.

/IANS