E-Paper
With 42 dog-bite cases a day, Mohali lives in terror
As per official records, Mohali district has recorded 12,719 dog bite cases in the first 10 months of the year. This means, every day, on an average, at least 42 people are falling prey to canine terror here. The figures have already surpassed last year’s total count of 11,077 (January to December 2022).
Sixty-seven-year-old KR Sharma shudders every time he has to leave home for an errand. Sharma, who is the president of Unified Residents Welfare Association, Dhakoli, had been recently bitten by a stray dog when he was walking back home.
“The stray dog had attacked me without any provocation. Such incidents have become common in our area. Every time we leave home, the stray dogs follow us. The situation is so grave that we have stopped stepping out of the house at night,” he says.
As per official records, Mohali district has recorded 12,719 dog bite cases in the first 10 months of the year. This means, every day, on an average, at least 42 people are falling prey to canine terror here. The figures have already surpassed last year’s total count of 11,077 (January to December 2022).
Sterilisation programme: All bark, no bite
The absence of a proper sterilisation programme has only aggravated the problem.
While Mohali city has roped in an NGO to carry out sterilisation of stray dogs, the periphery areas -- Zirakpur, Dera Bassi, Lalru, Banur, Kharar, Kurali, Naya Gaon and Gharuan -- don’t have any such arrangements.
Notably, for two years, starting September 5, 2021, Mohali city too had no programme to control the stray dog population as it failed to find any firms to take up the project. Finally, on September 4 this year, the MC allotted the tender to NGO Compassion for Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), which charges ₹1,000 a dog for catching, sterilising, deworming and providing post-operative care.
Pradeep Bajaj from CAWA said that in the last two months, a total of 550 stray dogs have been sterilised in Mohali city.
“Our teams pick up the stray dogs and drop them at the same spot post their surgery and recovery,” said Bajaj.
Peripheries bear the brunt
For the purpose of dog sterilisation, the eight municipal councils in the district have been divided into two clusters. While the Zirakpur council cluster includes Dera Bassi, Lalru and Banur, the Kharar council includes Kurali, Naya Gaon and Gharuan.
Zirakpur MC’s executive officer (EO), Ravneet Singh said, “We have written to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) four times seeking approval to bring in CAWA for implementing a sterilisation programme in our cluster, but so far, we haven’t received any response. We have a budget of ₹25 lakh for the drive.”
Kharar EO Sukhdev Singh, meanwhile, said he wasn’t aware of any drive in his area and will have to check for the same.
Where are dogs being treated?
Though there are no official sterilisation programmes, residents of the periphery areas can still take dogs to district hospitals in Mohali, Dera Bassi, Kharar and health centres in Lalru, Dhakoli, Banur, Kurali, Boothgarh for free-of-cost treatment and vaccination.
District immunisation officer Dr Girish Dogra said, “Our health teams are providing free vaccination to all dogs brought to us at our hospitals or primary health centres. The vaccination is available with us 24/7.”
In a recent order, the Punjab and Haryana high court had ruled that the state would be responsible for compensating victims in instances of attacks by stray animals, including dogs and cattle. Regarding dog bite incidents, the court stipulated that the compensation and directed the government to form a committee to deal with such cases.
Mohali DC Aashika Jain said, “We have constituted the committee as per the HC guidelines and will comply with the directions accordingly.”
