NEW DELHI: Days after the Delhi High Court asked the Delhi government and other concerned authorities to consider forming a policy for the rehabilitation of stray dogs in the city, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday said that the government is looking for a long-term solution to the stray dog menace.
The CM was speaking at the inauguration of development work in Pitampura under her Shalimar Bagh constituency. At the event, an elderly lady raised the issue of stray dog menace.
“I am working on solving the problems due to stray dogs. The issues involve both the people as well as the speechless animals,” Gupta said.
“The Delhi government is creating a platform to bring together the residents as well as those who care for these animals. There is a law and the stray dogs cannot be kept in shelters or displaced from the streets where they live,” she said. “The government is searching for a long-term solution in which neither people nor animals are discomforted. It will be a policy matter which is work in progress,” she said.
Notably, the High Court’s direction came from Justice Mini Pushkarna while hearing a plea by Pratima Devi, an elderly woman widely known as “Dog Amma,” who filed the petition in 2023. The matter will now be heard again on August 6. In an order dated May 21, the Court noted that there had been regular reports in newspapers and petitions submitted about stray dog attacks across the capital.
Referring to the current situation as a policy matter, Justice Pushkarna directed the issue to be taken up by the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government.
“Accordingly, it is directed that a policy decision be taken by the stakeholders, to ensure that provisions are made for the rehabilitation of the stray dogs at an institutional level, so that they are rehabilitated and phased out from the public roads and streets,” the Court said. It added that the Chief Secretary must call a meeting of all relevant stakeholders to decide on a long-term strategy for removing stray dogs from the streets and parks and providing them with care in institutional shelters.