Bangaloreans dog-tired of stray dogs
The city has some 50,000 licenced pet animals and an estimated 50,600 stray dogs.
By TNN |
BANGALORE: IT IS not just the lack of proper infrastructure facilities that bug Bangaloreans. They have to contend with a four-legged menace in the form of stray dogs.
Even before the citizens could recover from the ghastly shock of a pack of stray dogs mauling 8-year-old Sridevi to death in Chandra Layout on January 10, rabid canines have brutally killed four and half year old Manjunath in BEML Layout near Banaswadi on Wednesday sending the city into a tizzy.
The death of the two kids by ferocious stray dogs in two different localities in less than two months, has forced the harried citizens to wonder whether what is touted as the country’s most happening city is literally going to dogs.
The problem is far more serious if one were to consider the thousands of cases of dog-bites, especially those involving postmen, telephone mechanics, courier or pizza delivery boys, which never get reported unless they involve rabid dogs.
And, it is not just the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) authorities and other citizens groups but even Karataka’s health and family welfare minister R Ashok and public works and energy minister H D Revanna, who incidentally is chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s elder brother, have jumped into action promising to tackle the menace promptly.
Ashok, who hails from the city and represents one of the largest and heavily populated Uttarahalli constituency comprising parts of Bangalore city and rural districts, boldly promised that the stray dogs will be ``mercilessly’’ dealt with and the menace eliminated within a month.
Will getting rid of the city’s stray dog menace a turn out to be tall order? Well, the answer is obviously yes, if one were to go by his senior BJP colleague, Mukhyamantri Chadru, MLC. The city has some 50,000 licenced pet animals and an estimated 50,600 stray dogs, Chandru said pointing out that the canine population was growing by roughly 1.5 lakh per year.
Judging by the civic body’s record of eliminating 600 dogs after the Chandra Layout incident on January 10, getting rid of the city’s stray dog menace within a month is really a challenging task.
And the much-publicised animal birth control (ABC) programme, being implemented in the city to sterlise the stray dogs and leave them back in the same localities as part of the amended Prevention Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 championed by animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi, has succeeded in tackling barely 3000 strays over the last six years by spending Rs 5.64 crore.
BMP commissioner k Jairaj was more realistic when he unveiled an 8-point short-term action plan to tackle the menace: The number of vehicles deployed in different localities will be doubled from the present three in each of the three zones and the men in charge of each vehicle will be asked to catch at least 25 to 30 dogs a day against their present catch of 8 to 10 a day.
In order to ensure that the vehicles actually do their work, the area health inspector and medical officers along with representatives of animal rights NGOs will be asked to accompany each vehicle during their city rounds. All vehicles will be asked to maintain video recordings to ensure that the task is actually performed, he said adding that special attention will be paid to 48 localities identified as being infested with stray dogs.
More importantly, the civic body would increase the garbage collection rounds and introduce night collection of refuse/wastage around railway stations, bus stands, mosques, temples, big hotels and kalyana mantaps along with measures to check unauthorised meat selling shops, which have become major feeding sources of the strays, Jairaj said.
For the record, Ashok said the government has already suspended two health inspectors in connection with the Chandra Layout incident and has asked BMP’s joint commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the BEML Layout incident, even though the area was part of the 130 acre plot belonging to the Central PSU. In addition to the Rs 1 lakh compensation offered to Manjunath’s family, the minister said BEML chairman Natarajan had been persuaded to pay another Rs 3 lakh as compensation. BEML has also agreed to build compound walls around its property and take steps to eliminate the stray dogs, Ashok said.
The minister said the government would shortly write to the Centre to suitably amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 to provide for administering euthanasia to the rabid and ferocious dogs among the strays
instead of rigid adherence to ABC programme. Simultaneously, the Kempe Gowda Institute of Medical Sciences in the city will be conducting a study on the efficacy of the ABC programme and submit its report to the government within a month with alternative suggestions if necessary.
With the government’s directive to take stern action against the stray dog menace, if necessary by resorting to euthanasia, he said medical officers and health inspectors of different localities would be held responsible for any future recurrence within their jurisdiction.
Public works and energy minister H D Revanna came down heavily on the lax civic officials and felt criminal action should be taken against them as a warning to all. ``I will discuss this issue with the chief minister and press for stern action,’’ he said.
Even before the citizens could recover from the ghastly shock of a pack of stray dogs mauling 8-year-old Sridevi to death in Chandra Layout on January 10, rabid canines have brutally killed four and half year old Manjunath in BEML Layout near Banaswadi on Wednesday sending the city into a tizzy.
The death of the two kids by ferocious stray dogs in two different localities in less than two months, has forced the harried citizens to wonder whether what is touted as the country’s most happening city is literally going to dogs.
The problem is far more serious if one were to consider the thousands of cases of dog-bites, especially those involving postmen, telephone mechanics, courier or pizza delivery boys, which never get reported unless they involve rabid dogs.
And, it is not just the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) authorities and other citizens groups but even Karataka’s health and family welfare minister R Ashok and public works and energy minister H D Revanna, who incidentally is chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s elder brother, have jumped into action promising to tackle the menace promptly.
Ashok, who hails from the city and represents one of the largest and heavily populated Uttarahalli constituency comprising parts of Bangalore city and rural districts, boldly promised that the stray dogs will be ``mercilessly’’ dealt with and the menace eliminated within a month.
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Will getting rid of the city’s stray dog menace a turn out to be tall order? Well, the answer is obviously yes, if one were to go by his senior BJP colleague, Mukhyamantri Chadru, MLC. The city has some 50,000 licenced pet animals and an estimated 50,600 stray dogs, Chandru said pointing out that the canine population was growing by roughly 1.5 lakh per year.
Judging by the civic body’s record of eliminating 600 dogs after the Chandra Layout incident on January 10, getting rid of the city’s stray dog menace within a month is really a challenging task.
And the much-publicised animal birth control (ABC) programme, being implemented in the city to sterlise the stray dogs and leave them back in the same localities as part of the amended Prevention Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 championed by animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi, has succeeded in tackling barely 3000 strays over the last six years by spending Rs 5.64 crore.
BMP commissioner k Jairaj was more realistic when he unveiled an 8-point short-term action plan to tackle the menace: The number of vehicles deployed in different localities will be doubled from the present three in each of the three zones and the men in charge of each vehicle will be asked to catch at least 25 to 30 dogs a day against their present catch of 8 to 10 a day.
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In order to ensure that the vehicles actually do their work, the area health inspector and medical officers along with representatives of animal rights NGOs will be asked to accompany each vehicle during their city rounds. All vehicles will be asked to maintain video recordings to ensure that the task is actually performed, he said adding that special attention will be paid to 48 localities identified as being infested with stray dogs.
More importantly, the civic body would increase the garbage collection rounds and introduce night collection of refuse/wastage around railway stations, bus stands, mosques, temples, big hotels and kalyana mantaps along with measures to check unauthorised meat selling shops, which have become major feeding sources of the strays, Jairaj said.
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For the record, Ashok said the government has already suspended two health inspectors in connection with the Chandra Layout incident and has asked BMP’s joint commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the BEML Layout incident, even though the area was part of the 130 acre plot belonging to the Central PSU. In addition to the Rs 1 lakh compensation offered to Manjunath’s family, the minister said BEML chairman Natarajan had been persuaded to pay another Rs 3 lakh as compensation. BEML has also agreed to build compound walls around its property and take steps to eliminate the stray dogs, Ashok said.
The minister said the government would shortly write to the Centre to suitably amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 to provide for administering euthanasia to the rabid and ferocious dogs among the strays
instead of rigid adherence to ABC programme. Simultaneously, the Kempe Gowda Institute of Medical Sciences in the city will be conducting a study on the efficacy of the ABC programme and submit its report to the government within a month with alternative suggestions if necessary.
With the government’s directive to take stern action against the stray dog menace, if necessary by resorting to euthanasia, he said medical officers and health inspectors of different localities would be held responsible for any future recurrence within their jurisdiction.
Public works and energy minister H D Revanna came down heavily on the lax civic officials and felt criminal action should be taken against them as a warning to all. ``I will discuss this issue with the chief minister and press for stern action,’’ he said.
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