Karimnagar: Monkey menace dominates gram panchayat election campaigns

Monkey menace has emerged as the biggest issue in gram panchayat elections, with villagers demanding firm action from candidates. Aspirants across districts are offering solutions ranging from professional catchers to deploying langurs, as attacks and crop damage continue to rise.

Karimnagar: Monkey menace has become a major issue in the ongoing gram panchayat elections across the State, with the usually dominant lure of money and freebies taking a back seat as voters demand a concrete solution to monkeys troubling their villages.

Voters say they are unwilling to support any candidate who does not make a clear promise to end the monkey problem.

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Almost every village is facing severe nuisance from monkeys attacking houses, injuring people and damaging agricultural fields. Villagers are raising the issue whenever candidates approach them for votes, prompting several aspirants to include it in their manifestos.

Some candidates have already begun efforts to catch monkeys by deploying professional catchers, while others are promising a fixed annual budget to control the menace if they are elected as Sarpanch.

A Sarpanch aspirant from Vennampalli in Saidapur mandal, Moluguri Chiranjeevi, has already started catching monkeys by engaging catchers. So far, more than 300 monkeys have been caught.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Chiranjeevi said he made the monkey menace a priority after every villager raised the issue while he conducted house visits before filing his nomination.

Many residents had been hospitalised due to monkey attacks, he said, citing the case of an elderly woman whose family had to spend Rs.50,000 on treatment. During his earlier stint as deputy Sarpanch, monkeys were caught on four occasions by engaging catchers, yet the menace continued. Determined to find a permanent solution, he said he would allocate funds for the purpose every year if voted to power.

In Dandepally of Mancherial district, Sarpanch aspirant Azmir Rajeshwar has deployed langurs to drive away monkeys.

In Regonda of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, locals have declared they would extend support only to candidates who address the monkey menace. Wall posters have been pasted across the village, and a youth, Madagati Naresh, is campaigning on the issue.