Noida: Dog feeding points in residential areas

NOIDA: To reduce conflicts and arguments between dog lovers and residents’ groups, the Noida authority will earmark feeding points in various sectors across the city, said officials

NOIDA: To reduce conflicts and arguments between dog lovers and residents’ groups, the Noida authority will earmark feeding points in various sectors across the city, said officials. The authority on Wednesday said for now 15-20 dog feeding points will be established while proper shelter homes for stray dogs will be set up later.

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The authority at present relies upon the expertise of two veterinary doctors and their respective teams to tackle the issue of stray dogs and carry out sterilisation. However, during a meeting presided by chief secretary RK Tiwari that took place on March 6, Gautam Budh Nagar commissioner of police Alok Singh had suggested that more focus was needed on the matter as feeding dogs is leading to law and order problems frequently in Noida and Greater Noida.

During a meeting of the public health department last week, authority officials had said they were of the view that running shelter homes will require a lot of funds and resources. “To handle the problem on an urgent basis, feeding points will be earmarked across residential sectors in the city. We will provide our green belts as well. Dog lovers can leave the food and feed dogs at designated spots. Office bearers of residents welfare associations will be taken on board before the feeding locations are decided,” said SC Mishra, the in-charge of the public health department.

The authority has one shelter home in Sector 94 but more such centres are required. Officials said the process to empanel an agency for carrying out sterilisation and immunisation of stray dogs has already been initiated. “Once the agency is finalised, we will have experts who will guide us on how to deal with the problem,” said Mishra, adding that the agency will be appointed by April 15 after evaluation.