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No vehicles, staff crunch: Mohali’s stray sterilisation programme goes to the dogs
In October 2019, the then chairperson of the stray dogs sterilisation committee Kuljeet Singh Bedi in a report had said the sterilisation programme only existed on paper.
After a three-month hiatus due to the lockdown, the dog sterilisation programme had taken off in Mohali on June 22. However, in the absence of dog-catching vans and staff, the programme has remained toothless so far, with 2,690 dog bite cases reported over the last eight months.
The stray dog population in Mohali has increased by approximately 1,000 over the last year. In June 2019, there were around 9,000 stray canines in Mohali, now there are approximately 10,000 dogs in the area, as per a rough estimate.
Some of the worst affected areas where the strays reign the streets are Sectors 76 to 80, Phases 3-B1, 3B2, 4,5, 9 and 10. Such is the dog menace in these areas that residents are scared to step out of their homes.
Dr Dinesh Chaudhary, who has been given the contract for the sterilisation programme says, the vehicle used to carry out the drive is being repaired. “The project is going at a slow pace as we are taking precaution in the wake of the pandemic,” Chaudhary says.
Mohali MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg says, “We do not have enough staff to carry out dog and cattle sterilisation programmes due to Covid-19. However, I will direct the agency to speed up work as the number of stray dogs has gone up in Mohali.”
Dummy operations
In October 2019, the then chairperson of the stray dogs sterilisation committee Kuljeet Singh Bedi in a report had said the sterilisation programme only existed on paper. “Over the past two years it has been observed that the company tasked with the programme had been carrying out dummy operations,” the report had found.
CL Garg, president, Confederation of Greater Mohali RWAs, the apex body of 65 RWAs, said, the civic body was not taking the stray dog menace seriously. “Officials do come to take the dogs but they hardly catch any and are often here only as a formality.”
Civil Hospital Phase-6 nodal officer Dr Harmandeep Kaur Brar said, “Dog bite patients experience tremendous physical pain. Sometimes the bites can cause rabies, which can cause patients to become hydrophobic to the extent that even injecting a glucose drip becomes difficult.”
