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Rajesh Sharma
Inaugurated on June 26, 2016, the Monkey Sterilisation Centre (MSC) in Ispur village of Una district has been lying closed ever since.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 1.05 crore, only about a dozen sterilisations have been performed on the day it was inaugurated with much fanfare by the then Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri in the presence of the then Industries Minister and local MLA Mukesh Agnihotri.
While in Una district, increasing number of primates have been changing their habitat from forests and moving to human habitations, in the eventual conflict between the animals and the man, it is the later which has prevailed.
After the monkeys were declared vermin by the state government, a MSC was made functional in Boul village of the district some seven years ago, where about 2,500 monkeys are sterilised every year.
To step up sterilisation figures, the department set up another MSC in Ispur village, which has failed to justify the purpose for which it was constructed, though the centre finds mention in the Forest Department’s official website as one of the eight functional MSCs in the state.
Forest officials decline to comment on the reasons for the failure of the Ispur MSC, except for one reason that the Boul centre was adequately catering to the monkey sterilisation needs of the district. However, according to some others, unwilling to be quoted, the approach to the Ispur MSC was through a tributary of the Swan river and the 1.5 km narrow dirt track along the bank of a water channel, which leads to the centre was risky to transport vehicles loaded with animals, particularly during rains.
Una Divisional Forest Officer Yashu Deep Singh said: “Non-utilisation of the infrastructure was discussed with senior officers and with the Forest Minister. An idea to convert it into an animal rescue centre has been mooted. The Una Forest Division is preparing a proposal to the effect, which will be sent to the department for approval.”
Yashu Deep Singh said an animal rescue centre was the need of the hour since human-animal conflicts were on the rise. Very often, he said animals like leopards, blue bulls, barking deers, boars, monkeys and other wild animals get injured in conflicts or road accidents and they have to be transported to Gopalpur Zoo in Palampur, the nearest such facility available.
The DFO said an animal rescue centre in Una could cater to the needs of Una district besides other adjoining areas since transporting an injured animal over long distances adds to the trauma and decreases the success rate of survival or recovery. He said while a veterinary doctor was already available with the department at MSC Boul, only support staff would be needed for the rescue centre, which can be outsourced.
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