BERHAMPUR: Two women and a child sustained injuries as the scooter they were riding dashed with a car parked on the roadside after being chased by stray dogs in Gandhinagar here on Monday.
A Supriya with her sister Sasmita and son Saikiran were on their way to a temple when the incident took place.
“I was on my way to a temple with my sister on the pillion and son standing on the footboard when a few dogs started chasing us. Panicked, I sped and hit a parked car on the roadside,” said Supriya.
She and Saikiran fell while Sasmita was thrown to a distance.
The trio was taken to a private clinic with injuries on the head and waist.
The incident has brought to the fore concerns about the rising number of stray dogs in the city, which has reached around 25,000 as per Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) sources. Even though the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme was launched in the city in 2010, not a single dog has reportedly been sterilised under the programme due to the absence of a veterinary doctor.
As per sources, soon after the announcement of the ABC programme, five staffers were roped in and a jamadar of BeMC was trained to catch dogs. The corporation also purchased a dog catcher van, and constructed a kennel house with 14 rooms and an operation theatre on the campus of the district veterinary office in 2014. However, the facility remains unutilised.
Contacted, BeMC officials remained tight-lipped on the issue. However, health wing sources said, in 2018 some stray dogs were caught and released about 10 to 15 km away from the city.
On an average, MKCG Medical College and Hospital and City Hospital treat 10 dog bite cases a day while many people sustain injuries due to accidents caused by dogs.