By Baburam Sharma
Charikot, Apr. 3: Facing problems unleashed by the monkeys, residents of Bhimeshwor Municipality-4 in Dolakha have decided to vote for the party that will get rid the place of the monkeys.
According to local Chandra Kumar Budathoki, the villagers have agreed to vote only for the party that comes with a manifesto to solve once and for all the problems created by the simians.
Even the crops planted on his small plot of land have been destroyed by the monkeys, making him worried about how he will put his food on the table.

“Crops in the fields cannot be harvested because of the monkeys. People are forced to guard their crops against the monkey menace every day. “When you are a guard every day, you can't do any other work,” he lamented.

The villagers have complained that the monkeys that used to eat maize have now started eating potatoes, corn, onion and garlic.
No one has been able to keep the monkeys at bay. Expressing his grief, Budhathoki said, “The local government has attempted at helping us, but nothing concrete has come out so far. The municipality gave us a machine like a gun to scare off the monkeys, but to no avail.”

“Scared of the loud bang from the gun, the monkeys used to run away. But that is no longer the case now; they have become resistant now. The gun is just a toy for the monkeys,” Budhathoki said. The local government has remained helpless in solving the problem, he added.

Another victim, Umesh Ghatani, said as the incumbent people's representative was soon giving way to a new one, we have decided to elect a person who can successfully chase away the monkeys.
“Whoever pledges to free this place from the monkey menace will get our votes, as this is the common problem of the whole village,” Ghatani said.

According to locals, there was no monkey problem in the area until five years ago. Only a few monkeys lived in the forest, but now the area is teeming with monkeys.
Farmers have alleged that the monkeys were brought from other districts and released there.

Division Forest Office Dolakha, however, denied the blame. “Wild animals should be in the forest. The problem is that expansive human settlements encroach on their habitat, giving rise to the conflicts between humans and wildlife,” said the office.

“Due to the rapid increase in human activities in the forests, the habitats of the wild animals have shrunk. In an effort to forage for food, some wild animals are coming to settlement areas. Deforestation is on the rise in various