The fight against COVID-19 is definitely tiresome, and the lockdown is terrible to all sections of people. But, the tough time has led to a special bond between police personnel and the small game moving along the 15-km-long ghat road from Kalyani dam to Bhakarapeta.
Anyone passing through this picturesque forest zone at the foot of the Seshachalam Hills will not miss the presence of several troops of monkeys from dawn to dusk, and the lucky ones might even have a glimpse of the spotted deer or a wild boar. Over the years, the regular commuters in buses or cars and those on two-wheelers are habituated to flinging eatables at these monkeys as they crisscross the ghat road.
When Janata Curfew on March 22 turned into a lockdown for the next several weeks, it had only confused the monkeys sitting on the parapet walls and under the tunnels, with absolutely no human movement. During the last four weeks, except for the movement of the police personnel on patrol, nobody ventured on the road.
‘Helpless’ simians
Circle-Inspector (Piler) A. Sadiq Ali, while passing through the ghat section on March 31, noticed the carcass of a monkey surrounded by a big troop. He also saw “helpless” monkeys at half a dozen spots on the ghat road.
The Inspector said that for a couple of days, the painful spectacle haunted him. “After consulting some friends in Piler and surrounding areas, I finally designed a plan. We fetched bananas from the fields left without being harvested and a dozen gunny sacks of water packets. As we distributed them among the monkeys, they preferred water to bananas, which clearly showed their alarming level of thirst. Our service will continue till the lockdown is lifted. It might even be continued if the good Samaritans want it so,” Mr. Ali said.
Now into the third week, the police personnel in coordination with the villagers are busy supplying the monkeys whatever food they could fetch — be it bananas, vegetables, water and musk melons to food packets.
Water tubs
The humane gesture took a full bloom with another Circle-Inspector S. Murali Krishna (Piler Rural) joining the mission. He arranged water tubs at about seven places on a 15-km stretch. On alternate days, the police personnel from Bhakarapeta deploy a water tanker to fill the tubs. Now, not only monkeys, but also spotted deer, several bird species and occasionally leopards and bears quench their thirst as they criss-cross the terrain. “This gives me immense happiness, which I can’t explain,” Mr. Murali Krishna said.
