AGRA: It’s quite common for monkeys to snatch food items from tourists at the temples of

Vrindavan

but a

was left stunned when a simian snatched his snake away outside the

recently.

The

of the monkey snatching away the snake went viral on

on Sunday. The near 2 minutes video footage of Friday shows a monkey walking towards the snake charmer and then snatching a black snake right from his hand. The snake charmer can be seen trying to chase the monkey to get his snake back but to no avail.

The simian menace is not new here and it’s even in the knowledge of chief minister,

, who came up with the novel idea to this problem by saying that Hanuman Chalisa and other sacred texts should be recited to the monkeys. He told a news agency that he was told that if Bajrang Bali aarti and the Hanuman Chalisa are recited then these monkeys will never harm anyone.

Notwithstanding the chief minister’s advise, the monkey menace has assumed such large proportions that protecting VVIPs from them is now a major task for the administration.

In fact during the visit of the former President, Pranab Mukherjee, in 2014, the local administration worked overtime to keep the simians away from the chief commander of the Indian armed forces. The grapevine is that Mukherjee was advised, “Save your spectacles Mr. President”.

Several people have been wounded and some had to be even hospitalised after simians attack. Last year, a sadhu (monk) died after falling from a terrace following an attack by monkeys. A housewife, who was drying clothes on the rooftop, sustained severe head injuries after she fell while trying to escape an attack from a troop of monkeys.

According to a local residents, due to religious beliefs, no one wants to harm the monkeys and as a result they are outnumbering the visitors and pilgrims. Since they can not be killed, they should be captured and released in the jungles, but the administration has done nothing in this regard, said another resident of Vrindavan.

When contacted, Mathura DM, Sarvagya Ram Mishra, said that since the strategy of catching the monkeys and releasing them at far off distance has not worked so far, the administration has planned to put up a proposal for “monkey safari”. The idea that was mooted by politician-turned-actress Hema Malini, over four years ago when she contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Mathura. However, there has not been much progress on it so far.