BHOPAL: The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) failed to open four new sterilisation stations for stray dogs in Bhopal. Around Rs 90 lakh were proposed for the same but the BMC failed to get land for the purpose. No other major effort is taken by the authorities to ensure safety of residents from stray dog. On the other hand with only six dog squad trucks with around 45 men for catching dogs for sterlisation in Bhopal- the teams on an average catch less than 60 dogs. While Bhopal has over 1 lakh dogs as per estimates.
The death of 6-year-old boy who was mauled by dogs in Awadhpuri on Friday has triggered tension and residents are now demanding from authorities that the stray dogs be relocated to outskirts. Not only this the shitfing is marred by the opposition of animal welfare groups who opposed the shifting and demand that the dogs be allowed to inhabit the area where they have been raised. Over 3 deaths and 7 cases of severe dog bite have been reported in Bhopal in last one and half years.
The BMC also raised its budget from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore for sterlisation but still little has changed on ground. The sterlisation drive is underway for last six years and still the number of dogs is on the rise in Bhopal. On the other hand, the NGOs working for dogs rather feel it is us who should treat animals well. Swati Gauraw, a member of people for animals (PFA) says there is need of awareness among people as the aggression is instilled dogs due to how we treat them. She says the dogs also need care and that the open meat shops lure them that leads to aggression.
She says that the dogs should not be thrashed on roads also one should not try to play with them while driving as then they start chasing vehicles.She further said aggression is also because we fail to feed or provide them water even in intense summer season. BMC veterinary surgeon SK Shrivastava said we have no option but to sterlise dogs. He says in a year we sterlise around 18,000 dogs. Abdul Shafique, a corproator said that the authorities are not serious about the issue else the dog population would have never been a problem for us. He says the land allotment and shifting of dogs should be done at the earliest with extra teams working for it in various areas.
