In less than a year, 15,747 Vasai-Virar residents bitten by stray dogs

Police constable Ninad Patil, who works in the Director General of Police office at Colaba and is a resident of Arnala village said in the entire Vasai-Virar area there are more than 50,000 stray dogs. Patil said that the menace of stray dogs should be addressed by the municipal corporation

Mumbai: Residents of Arnala village in Virar are cautious before stepping out of their homes due to rising stray dog bite incidents in the area. Around 200 residents and tourists were bitten by strays this year in Arnala, the latest victim is a 10-year-old boy, who frequented the Arnala beach, and was bitten twice this year.

The problem had increased so much that in August 2022, the Gram Panchayat Arnala had written to the VVMC to look into the increasing numbers of stray dogs in the four-kilometre coastal belt in Arnala, where more than 250 dogs were spotted attacking locals and tourists. (HT Photo)

The victim, Sachin Patil, a local of Arnala village said, “I was sitting on the bench when a stray dog pounced on me and before I knew it, he had bit my leg. The second time too, I did not do anything to provoke the dog, he jumped on me,” said Sachin, who is scared to go to the beach now.

In the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) jurisdiction, 15,747 people have been bitten by stray dogs from January to November 2022.

Rugved Dudhat, government medical officer at Arnala said that every day, they treat at least six people who have been bitten by dogs, “There should be a proper waste management system at the beaches and all dogs should be sterilised so that the locals do not have to live on fear,” said Dudhat.

Police constable Ninad Patil, who works in the Director General of Police office at Colaba and is a resident of Arnala village said in the entire Vasai-Virar area there are more than 50,000 stray dogs. “The menace of stray dogs should be addressed by the municipal corporation. The civic body releases stray dogs caught from the city towards villages in Vasai and Virar and since they are not sterilised, their population increases tremendously,” he said.

Patil, who also heads the beach clean-up committee said that lakhs of people visit the beaches in Vasai and Virar every week. Due to the stalls at the beach and the waste they generate, the stray dogs left by the VVMC throng near these stalls and live on scraps and waste. “The dogs fight amongst themselves and also attack passersby,” said Patil.

According to VVMC data, at least 18,000 people were victims of dog bites in 2021. “The number is alarming and the problem should be taken seriously,” said Patil.

The problem had increased so much that in August 2022, the Gram Panchayat Arnala had written to the VVMC to look into the increasing numbers of stray dogs in the four-kilometre coastal belt in Arnala, where more than 250 dogs were spotted attacking locals and tourists, “My aunt Savintri (58) was drying fish on the beach when a pack of dogs came from nowhere and attacked her, forcing her to run into the sea in August,” said Lakshmi Patil, a fisherwoman.

When contacted Hemlata Palshi, the sarpanch of the village said that in September, the VVMC had taken around 50 dogs from Arnala and sterilised them. “However, after sterilising they were again released here. Sterilisation just controls their number but their menace continues,” said Palshi.

The locals, however, maintain that they live in fear as these dogs roam in packs and often pounce on people without any reason.

“We have 21 primary health centres in the Vasai-Virar belt, where dog bites are treated without any charge,” said Bhakti Choudhary, chief medical officer of VVMC.