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Admn, MC prepare plan to fight canine terror in Patiala district
Deputy commissioner Kumar Amit discussed the matter with corporation commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira to prepare a plan to run an animal birth control (ABC) programme in the city and other areas of the district.
The district administration and the municipal corporation have decided to come up with a plan to fight canine terror in the district.
About 31 people were reported to have been bitten daily by stray dogs during the first five months of the year, according to the data collected by the district health department . The overall figure of dog-bite cases for five months from January to May is 4,791. At least, 967 cases were reported in May only. Last year, as many as 4,997 cases of dog bite were reported in the district.
Deputy commissioner Kumar Amit discussed the matter with corporation commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira to prepare a plan to run an animal birth control (ABC) programme in the city and other areas of the district.
“It is a serious issue and we are already on the job of chalking out plan to control the canine population,” the DC said.
He added the civic body has been asked to revamp its ABC programme for stray dogs. The drive will be implemented in the district with the help of the animal husbandry department, he said.
The corporation is already running a dog sterilisation drive, but it has remained ineffective so far. The corporation’s executive engineer Rajinder Chopra said at least 2,300 dogs have been sterilised in the past two years. The civic body has been paying Rs 740 per dog under the sterilisation programme.
EARLIER CONTROVERSY
In 2015, the ABC programme run by the corporation was shelved after animal rights activist and Union minister Maneka Gandhi and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) accused the NGO, assigned the task, of not using proper sterilisation techniques and ignoring rules.
AWBI even shot off a letter to Patiala divisional commissioner AS Pannu and mayor Amarinder Singh Bajaj asking them to ensure ABC rules and norms of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act are followed.
AWBI, under the Union ministry of environment and forests, alleged that sterilised stray dogs were left without proper post-operative care in violation of the ABC rules
Maneka Gandhi had called up senior officials and asked them to take action against the NGO saying its members were not trained for the job.
Gandhi had also alleged that the dogs “thrown back” to the streets after sterilisation had gaping wounds and stitches that came apart.
She also claimed that to save money, dogs were often operated upon without anaesthesia, and doctors used inferior material for stitches. Following the controversy, the NGO abandoned the drive in-between.
