Lucknow: UP’s plantation campaign this year will have an objective beyond environment conservation. The state will have ‘Kapi Van’ or ‘forests for monkeys’ planted in municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats to control the monkey menace and man-monkey conflict. These plantations will be done away from the residential areas in cities.‘Kapi’ forests will have fruit-bearing species, like mangoes, jamun, guavas, bael, gular, mulberry and fig, which can yield fruits for years. While some of these will yield fruits in one season, others will bear in another season, thus ensuring supply throughout the year, said forest department sources. This will also help revive degraded land pockets in urban settlements, as such land will preferably be chosen for plantation.The plantation of ‘Kapi Van’ will start from the first week of July, which is annually celebrated as Van Mahotsav nationwide.In April, the department implemented an action plan on the directions of the high court to check the conflict. The plan encompassed immediate, preventive and long-term measures.The immediate measures included identifying problem areas within one month; assessing the population of monkeys responsible for conflicts; designating nodal officers to receive information regarding incidents of conflict; issuing helpline numbers and their publicity; and identifying and registering individuals or organisations possessing the requisite expertise to capture monkeys.Preventive measures, meanwhile, were about conducting public awareness programmes; organising outreach initiatives; implementing effective waste management systems; planting fruit-bearing trees; and, in deference to religious sentiments, identifying and designating specific areas where individuals may feed monkeys.The department’s long-term measures, however, focus on implementing technical reports aimed at limiting monkey population; providing lifelong sanctuary to captured monkeys; and identifying areas severely affected by conflict.
