Uma Devi Khana talks about the trouble in a Devghat elderly home.
(Photo credit: Binod Tripathi)

CHITWAN: MONKEYS have been terrorising elderly people of Rotari Karunalaya, an old age home, at Devghat in the district for the past few years.

“Monkeys have been bullying us out of our wits for the past six years. They snatch cooked rice and eat,” said 90-year-old Uma Devi Khanal, who came to the old age home from Kathmandu a decade ago to live a peaceful life. She said that the simians do not let them sleep well, nor do they let them eat properly. “They even attack us when we try to chase them away,” she lamented.

There are 30 elderly people in the old age house. “We are forced to eat rice by shutting windows and doors. The simians seize rice and curry when they get chance to do so,” Basundhara Chaulagain, 77, said. She said that they were finding it hard to bask in the sun outside during winter due to the monkey menace. The elderly people claimed that the monkeys were brought there from the Pashupatinath temple area in Kathmandu. Aswin Kumar Sapkota, in charge of the old age home, said the simians also destroy fruits and vegetables grown in the kitchen garden and also take away their clothes. Chairman of the old age home, Upendra Rijal, said that though they requested various government authorities to resolve the problem, no efforts have been taken so far. Uma Devi Khanal talks about the trouble in a Devghat elderly home on Sunday.

Source: Kathmandu Post, November 5, 2012