Ahead of SC verdict, MCD issues official order to capture ferocious, ill stray dogs

Initially, the drives will be carried out at vulnerable spots, such as government offices, hospitals, schools and parks, among others.

Even as the Supreme Court is expected to deliver the final verdict on the pleas seeking stay on the earlier apex court order on Friday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in an official order issued on August 19 has asked the NGO and zonal officials to round up stray dogs from vulnerable areas and keep them in 20 Animal Birth Control Centers.

The MCD runs 20 Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres in conjunction with 12 NGOs, for carrying out the sterilisation programme. (HT Photo)

The NGOs running these ABC units have flagged practical difficulties in executing the MCD orders.

An order was issued in this regard by the deputy director (veterinary services) of the rabies control programme on August 19. Initially, the drives will be carried out at vulnerable spots, such as government offices, hospitals, schools and parks, among others.

“In compliance of orders dated August 11 passed by the Supreme Court of India in the Suo Moto writ petition, all NGOs engaged through MOU by MCD doing the work of sterilizations and immunization of stray dogs are hereby directed to pick up all ferocious, aggressive and habitual biting stray dogs initially from vulnerable points like govt offices, hospitals etc and same shall be kept in their ABC centers,” the order reads.

The MCD runs 20 Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres in conjunction with 12 NGOs, for carrying out the sterilisation programme.

The MCD order also stated that similar exercises must be carried out by veterinary officers in zones and that dogs must be handed over to the nearest ABC centres. MCD officials said that the execution will be done ward-wise, with 20 ABC centres being allocated 250 municipal wards.

The veterinary department has asked workers to log records of dogs they pick up on the MCD 311 mobile application on a daily basis. “All NGOs shall keep the CCTV footage of such dogs and will also maintain physical records at the centres,” the order reads.

An MCD official said that 38 dogs were picked up on Thursday and 83 dogs on the first two days since the issuance of the official order.

HT has reported that to permanently relocate dogs, Delhi faces multiplicity of issues, such as shortage of staff, lack of space due to absence of permanent shelters, financial challenges with per-day expenditure on each dog estimated to ₹110 and lack of exact number of dogs present in the city as no citywide census has been carried out in 16 years.

RT Sharma, the president of Pet Animal Welfare Society, which runs an ABC centre in Masoodpur, said that the order cannot be implemented and NGOs will oppose the move. “We cannot obey this order because we don’t have any quarantine area for aggressive dogs. Aggressive dogs aren’t only those who have rabies - they could be aggressive also because of a psychological reason, or anxiety. This needs a professional approach, beyond just picking them up and packing them in the shelter.”