Title - Passengers face simian attack at Kanpur Central

KANPUR: Kanpur Central railway station has been home to monkeys for a long time and the number of their attacks on passengers and railway staff has only risen in the recent past. On Sunday evening it was a passenger's turn on platform number eight.Though other passengers rushed to save his life the monkey left him injured. According to eye witnesses, a group of monkeys first threatened passengers standing on the platform and one of them struck at a passenger.A few months back a team of Kanpur Nagar Nigam had launched a drive to nab monkeys at Kanpur Central and managed to catch about half-a dozen, along with the same number of stray dogs. A drive was launched on September 1 when union coal minister Shriprakash Jaiswal flagged off the Kanpur-Allahabad Intercity Express. Stray dogs, cattle and monkeys have become a serious problem for passengers at Kanpur Central who are often injured by the animals.A senior railway official admitted that availability of eatables on the platforms has always been the reason for monkeys to attack railway staff and the passengers. He said a drive would be launched once again to nab monkeys.