Monkey menace in Varanasi disrupts wi-fi service

Increasing monkey menace in Varanasi have been often disrupting wi-fi service causing problems to the locals and tourists here.

The city gets a large number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, everyday due to its religious significance.

But the holy town is grappling with frequent breakdown of internet services caused by monkeys who often bite wires.

"I am trying to get wi-fi, but I could not get it, so it is like hard to get wi-fi. I really want to text my mom and text my sister. That is a problem I am facing," said a tourist from Holland, Melisa.

The monkeys in Varanasi are seen as an avatar of Hindu monkey god Hanuman and are considered sacred.

Authorities are baffled as they can't take action against the monkeys.

A senior engineer with Telecommunication Department, A.P Srivastav, said they have mooted a plan to lay optical cable wire underground to deal with the situation.

"There is an immense monkey menace. They bite the wires and the signal gets disrupted. It happens very often. We have laid down optical cable wire underground till the banks which has resolved half the problem, but at this point of time it is not possible to do so everywhere across the banks. So, we take it above head and also deal with monkeys," said Srivastav.

A pipeline around the banks to lay down wires is also an option the department is considering.

The local administration provides free wi-fi service to the locals and tourists around the Ganga banks.