A rogue monkey being taken into custody by forest personnel (file picture)

Paradip, Nov. 21: In the latest instance of simian nuisance, some rogue monkeys have injured at least 50 persons at some densely-populated villages in this district, forcing the villagers to stay indoors.

Classroom teaching at a government-run primary school in the village has also come to a grinding halt because of the monkey menace.

Residents of Gatanai and Naladiasasana, which fall in Tikiarapanga gram panchayat, have been grappling with simian violence for the last one week.

“We have been forced to suspend classes as the monkeys frequently create nuisance on the premises of Naladia Sasana Primary School. We were told that the animals had also attacked some students. Students’ attendance has dropped drastically as their parents are scared to send them school,” said Gobind Chandra Pati, the district inspector of schools.

The school would reopen once the monkeys were driven away and normality was restored, the official said.

“We are helpless and are literally held hostage by the rowdy animals. Neither the administration nor the forest department has done anything to prevent the monkeys from coming back to our villages. Now, it has become a risky proposition to venture outdoors. Even if we have to go out on some urgent work, we go in groups wielding lathis. Villagers have almost stopped going out of their homes,” said Narayan Sutar, a villager.

While the monkeys had virtually let loose a reign of terror in these villages, the attack on the children prompted the village’s palli sabha to close the primary school from yesterday, said Nagendra Kumar Behera, former zilla parishad president. “Besides attacking humans, the monkeys have also ransacked fields and damaged vegetables,” Behera said.

As launching a retaliatory attack on the monkeys goes against the religious belief of this predominantly Hindu village, the palli sabha took up the matter with the tehsildar. But they alleged that no steps were taken even after the complaint. “We have summoned forest personnel to cage the monkeys and to restore order in the both the villages,” said district collector Pradipta Kishore Pattnaik.