CISF jawans learning to use 'gulels' to tackle monkey menace at Taj Mahal

The CISF personnel manning the Taj Mahal here are having to undergo training to use a novel weapon - 'gulels' (catapults), to tackle menace of a different type - that of monkeys.

Central Industrial Security Force Commandant Braj Bhushan Singh told PTI that constables are being trained to use catapults to ward off monkeys from attacking and biting tourists.

"The monkeys have been posing a huge problem here. Many tourists have been injured in monkey attacks. Our jawans are being trained to use catapults to shoo them away," he said.

A local wildlife activist, armed with the provisions of the Wildlife Act, 1972, however, has come in simians' defence.

As per the Act, monkeys are protected species and no physical harm can be inflicted on them, said activist Shravan Kumar Singh.

Ved Gautam, a tourist guide, however, said, "We have seen some CISF jawans with catapults, but they have neither harmed monkeys nor used stones to target them."