Nagpur: The stray dog menace has been dogging the Second Capital of Maharashtra with no end in sight! Waking up before the situation turns critical, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is getting its act together for sterilisation of stray dogs whose population is estimated to be around one lakh in the city.
The stray dogs are a cause of concern and the recent incident of Katol town, wherein a child was mauled to death, has heightened the need for prompt corrective action from the authorities. Since 2018, the last census undertaken by NMC, the population of stray dogs was enumerated at 81,000. So, in the last few years, taking into account the growth, the number of stray dogs must be around one lakh. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, no steps were taken for counting of the dogs on streets in the last two years, but before that regular sterilisation was done, said an NMC official.
According to the civic body, once the State issued the GR, NMC’s task is to appoint the agency or agencies to undertake the sterilisation. Since the rate for sterilisation is finalised by Animal Welfare Board of India, it is Rs 1600 per dog, NMC would be spared trouble of issuing tenders as the process is quite lengthy. NMC had sent a proposal according to draft and estimated population of one lakh, Rs. 16 crores was sought from the State Government for the sterilisation programme. The proposal was dispatched in January 2022 and thereafter a few meetings were held at Mantralaya and now the State has accepted NMC’s proposal. The formality of issuing GR is under process and it is expected within next few days, the official stated.
According to reports, primarily NMC would invite Expression of Interest (EoI) and those agencies that have previous experience in handling sterilisation of stray dogs and other required technical capabilities would be shortlisted for the programme. NMC is primarily thinking of hiring multiple agencies to speed-up the sterilisation work and to make-up for the lost period of two years due to Covid-19 outbreak.
According to rough estimates about one lakh stray dogs should be sterilised within a period of one year to control their growing population. The Katol incident where the kid was mauled by stray dogs has raised concern among citizens as they have often demanded prompt action from NMC to curb the menace. In the city also, several incidents were reported, luckily the victims got away with just scratches. But the person bitten by a dog undergoes trauma and requires quite a long time to recover from it. NMC has set a target of one year to achieve complete sterilisation. Sterilisation is quite effective in controlling the aggressive behaviour among the dogs who roam the streets in packs. Also the drop in breeding would help in reducing the number of stray dogs on streets and ensure safer rides for citizens.
Mostly in night time, the stray dogs are known to chase two wheeler riders and the attack is so sudden that many a time a person loses balance. Sometimes street lights are not functional and at that time it’s difficult to guess the presence of dogs in the night. Such nasty surprise, the dog or dogs suddenly gets into action and lunges towards the feet of two wheeler riders, occurs quite frequently and is also a cause of many small mishaps.
