E-Paper
Chandigarh admn begins disbursing relief to stray animal victims
To simplify the application process, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been requested to develop an online portal for receiving applications and awarding compensation; until the portal is operational, manual applications will be accepted at the MC office in Sector 17, Chandigarh
Almost three months after the UT administration constituted a committee to determine the compensation for victims of incidents/accidents caused by stray animals, it has started disbursing the relief amount.
The committee was constituted on July 2, 2024, after the Punjab and Haryana high court in August 2023 mandated the formation of such committees in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to process claims from affected individuals. Ever since, the UT has received 145 applications so far.
During the MC House meeting on Thursday, deputy commissioner-cum-committee chairman Vinay Pratap Singh, who currently also holds the charge of MC commissioner, stated, “We have already disbursed ₹5 lakh to a victim who died after being hit by a stray cattle and ₹30,000 to another victim who suffered three stray dog bites. For starters, we are giving compensation to victims who approached court.”
Another committee member said the committee had recommended that compensation be given to only victims of incidents after August 18, 2023, when the high court’s order came. “We have already sent the recommendation to the UT local bodies department,” the member said.
He further said it was unanimously decided that the applications should be processed immediately. The medical superintendent of Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, will verify the injuries from treatment records and submit a report to the committee to expedite compensation.
According to the high court order, a compensation of ₹10,000 will be awarded for each teeth mark in dog bite cases. Additionally, for cases where flesh is pulled out from the skin up to 0.2cm, ₹10,000 will be given, per incident.
To simplify the application process, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been requested to develop an online portal for receiving applications and awarding compensation. Until the portal is operational, manual applications will be accepted at the MC office in Sector 17.
