Shimla, Oct 14 : The central government will help Himachal Pradesh in tackling the monkey menace, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said Wednesday.

"The central government has assured cooperation in containing monkey menace in the state," he told reporters here.

"The union ministry of environment and forests has agreed to finance various programmes being undertaken by the state to check monkey menace. It has also agreed to upgrade the monkey sterilisation centre near Shimla," he said.

Thousands of farmers in Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Una, Mandi and Kangra districts of the state have incurred losses due to the marauding monkeys.

As per forest department estimates, more than 900,000 farmers are badly affected by the simians. Monkeys, numbering over 300,000, target mainly the cereal and fruit crops, causing great damage.

Forest Minister J. P. Nadda told IANS: "The government is containing the monkey nuisance by mass sterilisation and setting up primate protection parks. We have even allowed selective killing of monkeys by the farmers who suffer crop damage."

The previous Congress government had initiated mass translocation of monkeys to remote forest areas from towns and villages to control the menace. This process was, however, not successful as the territory vacated by the translocated animals was occupied by more aggressive troops of monkeys from surrounding areas.(IANS)