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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: October 2007

Monkeys blamed for fatal fall by New Delhi deputy mayor

 

NEW DELHI--New Delhi deputy mayor Sawinder Jeet Singh Bajwa died on October 20, 2007 from head injuries reportedly suffered when he fell from a balcony at his home while trying to avoid aggressive rhesus macaques.

Whether that is really what happened, however, is unclear.

"Baiwa fell while reading a newspaper on the terrace at about 7:00 a.m., according to his family," reported Times of London Delhi correspondent Jeremy Page. "They said they thought he had been attacked by monkeys and lost his balance while trying to chase them away."

Said Bajwa's personal assistant Pawan Bhaskar, "Other-wise, there was no reason for a man sitting in his chair to fall."

Bajwa, 52, was also vice president of the Delhi chapter of the Bharatija Janata Party. The most prominent Delhi BJP member may be member of Parliament and People for Animals founder Maneka Gandhi. "I don't believe the monkey story at all," Mrs. Gandhi told ANIMAL PEOPLE. "No one saw anything. There were no witnesses. This looks like an afterthought by people who want to get rid of the monkeys in a temple nearby."

Wrote Page, "Bajwa's house is near a temple dedicated to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, where hundreds of monkeys gather every day to be fed offerings by devotees. Their alleged role in his death has reignited a debate about how to handle the Delhi population of rhesus macaques, which experts now estimate at more than 5,500."

"Since May this year we have managed to capture 1,250 monkeys, of whom over 450 were caught in the last 20 days," Delhi mayor Arti Mehra told The Hindu after Bajwa's death. "We are also planning to advertise in newspapers in Tamil Nadu and Assam as we've had good experience with monkey-catchers from these states. There are plans to increase the monkey-catching teams to 12 from the existing two. The rate for capturing the animals has also been increased."

A June 2007 ANIMAL PEOPLE article, "Monkeys may swing elections, but Delhi doesn't want them," described the controversy over the monkeys and what to do with them, which has been smouldering for at least five years.

Currently monkeys captured in Delhi are relocated to the Asola Bhatti Mines near Mehrauli, in itself a controversial site.

Sand mining at Asola Bhatti was halted in June 1990 by the then-lieutenant governor of Delhi as an occupational safety hazard, after hundreds of workers died in accidents. The Asola Bhatti area was incorporated into a wildlife sanctuary in 1991.

The formerly nomadic Od people, who had worked in the mines, continued to live there until they were forcibly resettled in mid-2006 to land from which subsistence farmers had been evicted.