Ludhiana: Dog sterilisation drive comes to a halt in absence of doctor, staff

Earlier, the project was stopped in August due to the exodus of labourers amid the Covid-19 lockdown.

The dog sterlisation drive being carried out at the animal birth control (ABC) centre in the Haibowal dairy complex has come to a halt in the absence of doctors and labourers.

Only 500 dogs have been sterilised in six months after the lockdown was announced. (HT file)

As per the information, the work was stopped in September last week, when labourers and the doctor involved in the project denied working on the project citing personal reasons.

This is the second time when the project has come to a halt in the last three months. Earlier, the project was stopped in August due to the exodus of labourers amid the Covid-19 lockdown.

Requesting anonymity, an MC official said that labourers started returning to their hometown after the lockdown was announced in March, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of dogs sterilised per day also dropped and the project was put to a halt in August. Then, the Hyderabad-based company which is taking up the project in the city, arranged around half a dozen workers to commence the project in September.

Only one team was working in the city as before the lockdown, two teams were deputed on the work. Earlier, the civic body used to sterilise over 500 dogs a month, but now only around 500 dogs have been sterilised in six months after the lockdown was announced.

It is said that the team left the work after the incident wherein a stray dog, which was discharged from the centre after sterilisation, died in mysterious circumstances. The woman who took the dog to the centre took the matter with the police. Perturbed over the incident, the dog catcher and the staff involved left the work, the official said.

Despite repeated attempts, MC joint commissioner Swati Tiwana, who is also the in-charge of the MC health branch, was not available for comment.

The project was commenced in 2015 and as per the officials over 42,000 dogs have been sterilised in the city so far.

Stray dog menace continues to haunt residents

Residents are a harried lot as stray dog menace continues to haunt them. The municipal corporation has been receiving complaints on a regular basis from different parts of the city.

A resident of Dugri, Phase 2, Swaranjit Singh said, “Stray dogs create a lot of nuisance in the area and even attack people. The dogs have scratched the cars of residents and despite numerous complaints submitted with the MC, nothing has been done so far.”

In a recent case, the security guards of a housing society at Pakhowal road had beaten a stray dog to death following which the police had booked unidentified persons under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and Section 429 (Mischief by killing or maiming cattle) of the Indian Penal Code.