Highly placed sources said the State's Wildlife Department has sent a special circular to all Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) advising them to issue ``permits'' if farmers approach them to seek permission to kill the monkeys. The direction comes after increasing protests from farmers and women's groups seeking the government's intervention to save their crops from the burgeoning monkey population in rural Himachal.

``Government can only act as facilitator to the farmers to save their crops but cannot indulge in killings in itself,'' a senior official told The Indian Express. The state Wildlife Department also claims that DFOs had powers under the law to permit killing of animals that pose a threat to property, including crops. The issue of monkey menace and large-scale damage to the crops in districts like Solan, Shimla, Hamirpur,Bilaspur, Chamba , Sirmaur and Mandi also figured in the state assembly.

The state government move coincides with a special study done by Santosh Kumar Sahoo, a research-scientist working on an Indo-US project on the monkey population in Himachal Pradesh. Sahoo has done his Ph.D on animal behaviour from Jodhpur University and is working on the project since 1995.

``A good habitat and low mortality rate have further increased the possibilities of the monkey population exceeding beyond biological and culturally acceptable levels, especially in areas where extensive agricultural operations take place,'' he says. Sahoo's project is sponsored by the US Fish and Wild-Life Services and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Sahoo says his study reveals that the estimated population of rhesus monkeys, also known as lal bandar, is around 3.50 lakh. It is found in varying habitats, like dense forests, except in Lahaul-Spiti. The population of ``human langurs'' was estimated to be 1.50 lakh and if conditions didnot change, it is bound to multiply geometrically in the next few years, he fears.

A preliminary survey of 46 farmland sites in Shimla, Chamba, Bilaspur, Solan, Sirmaur and Mandi districts by Sahoo reveals that the rhesus monkeys are now beyond their acceptable level and they often stray into fields, and apple and other orchards. Rhesus monkeys destroy crops of maize, potato, seasonal vegetables and pulses. Horticulture crops like apple, pea, cherry, plum, almond, walnut, apricot, etc. are often damaged. The damage varies from district to district and from habitat to habitat, depending on the distance of farmland from the nearest forest. To meet this challenge, Shanoo is using a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. This method helps create a dialogue about the rhesus population and its impact on agricultural practice, and involves local farmers and orchards in monkey management efforts. Under this method, community participation programmes have been arranged in monkey-infested villages.