Rats and stray dogs have made life miserable forpeople in parts of Jammu with the local municipality confessing that the rodentinvasion is not only "causing nuisance" to citizens but even damagingthe foundations of buildings in this city of six million people.
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) says that the old cityof Jammu has been virtually taken over by rodents.
The rats "have invaded every lane and drain and arecausing nuisance to the inhabitants besides damaging the foundations of thebuildings", the corporation has told the chief minister's secretariat. Themunicipality's anti-rat drive of the last two years has proved a near failure -despite giving away over 60,000 anti-rodent pills.
The municipality's admission follows RTI activist RamanSharma's petition seeking the intervention of the Jammu and Kashmir healthdepartment and the Jammu municipality to declare war on rodents.
"We have tried our level best but now it is not in thehands of citizens. Therefore, we want the intervention of the government andits agencies," Sharma said in his petition.
Sharma fears epidemics.
The corporation is also grappling with the menace of straydogs.
JMC Commissioner K.L. Khajuria told IANS: "We do nothave an estimate on the number of stray dogs in the city but are very sure thattheir population is rising by the day."
Khajuria said about 20 cases of dog bites were reporteddaily in the city.
The municipality has started sterilising stray dogs as itcannot kill or castrate them.
Worse, it has no space to provide shelter to strays it cancatch.