A five-year-old girl was severely injured after being attacked by a stray dog in Kota, Rajasthan, on Saturday, prompting renewed concerns over the city's stray dog problem.
The girl, identified as Namra, was playing in a lane outside her home in the Bengali Colony area of Chawani at about 19:15 local time when the dog suddenly attacked her. Namra suffered deep wounds to her head, back and wrists and was taken to hospital for treatment.
CCTV footage of the incident shows the child being dragged and mauled in the street before local residents intervened and chased the animal away.
A local woman, a child and several residents rushed to the scene after hearing the girl's screams and managed to drive the dog away.
The incident has raised concerns among residents, who said it was not an isolated case. A sanitation worker was previously attacked by a stray dog in the same neighbourhood and suffered severe injuries to his legs, they said.
Kishan Prajapati, the local representative for Ward 63, said he visited the site after the attack, helped take the child to hospital and called a team from the Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC) to capture the dog.
Residents have called for immediate action to tackle the stray dog problem.
KMC Commissioner OP Mehra said measures were being taken to address the issue. "Under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program, dogs captured upon complaints are taken to the ABC centre for sterilisation and returned to the same locality after 3-4 days, strictly following Supreme Court guidelines," Commissioner Mehra said.
Mehra said there was currently no permanent shelter for aggressive stray dogs, but a dedicated facility was being built in the Banda Dharampura area. "Currently, there is no permanent shelter available for aggressive dogs from the streets; however, a dedicated dog shelter with a capacity for 600-700 animals is under construction in the Banda Dharampura area to manage aggressive dogs effectively," he said.
The shelter is expected to be completed within seven to eight months and will be the first such facility in Rajasthan, he added.
"This facility will permanently house aggressive stray dogs that continue to pose a public threat even after sterilisation," Mehra said.
(With inputs from PTI)
