AGRA: To protect the tourists from monkey attacks, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel standing guard at Taj Mahal will now arm themselves with ‘gulels’ (slingshots) to tackle the menace at the 17th century monument.A team of a dozen jawans have been deployed with slingshots at east and west gates of Taj to protect tourists from the simians.It is to be noted that several incidents of monkey attacks have been reported earlier at the monument. On July 8 last year, an Australian tourist was attacked by a monkey inside Taj and similarly, two French nationals were bitten by monkeys while they were on their way to the main mausoleum on May 22.Talking to TOI, CISF commandant Brij Bhushan said that the step has been taken to protect the tourists from such unwarranted attacks. He added, “When we don’t allow tourists to enter the area with food items, they usually throw them in the dustbins at the security check point instead of putting it in lockers, which are available at the monument. Hence, the rise in cases of monkey attacks. So we have now come up with the slingshot idea but it will be used mostly to scare away the simians.”Officials added that due to provisions of the Wildlife Act, monkeys cannot be attacked or rounded up without adequate safeguards and precautions. A senior official of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) said that earlier they had planned to deploy langurs on the premises to catch monkeys and put them in shelters but the idea also failed.Meanwhile, welcoming the decision, Rajiv Saxena, secretary of tourism guild association, said that this is a good step in terms of security of tourists. “Incidents of monkey attacks have been reported earlier too. In August 2016, a monkey had snatched a Columbian tourist’s bag and pulled out some currency notes, many of which were later torn. We don’t want such incidents to be repeated and tourists’ safety is our priority.”