MADURAI: The city corporation has floated a tender to construct a special dog shelter in Ward 31 for Rs 34 lakh to bring down the stray dog population.
Officials from the city corporation stated that following the recent stray dog census, there are nearly 38,000 stray dogs in the city. As part of this, the corporation has planned to renovate the extension room at Dr Thangaraj Road in Ward 31 into a dog shelter facility, and the renovation works will be carried out at nearly Rs 34 lakh.
Officials from the city health department stated that there are already temporary shelters at Sellur and Vellakkal areas; notably, dogs that are taken for the ABC process would be kept in the shelters. Considering the number of dogs, the corporation has been planning to build an additional shelter in Ward 31, with separate kennels.
Activists have urged the corporation to take action towards promoting adoption and proper monitoring to prevent the straying of puppies to bring down the increasing stray dog population.
Don’t dump waste into open drains: Corpn commissioner
As residents have raised complaints over clogged sewage from open drains overflowing into areas like Villapuram, Avaniyapuram, Meenakshinagar, and several other places, corporation officials have stated that the dumping of solid waste into open drains causes such issues.
M Selvakumar, a resident of Ward 100, said, “Earlier, the open drains would overflow only during the rainy season. However, recently, small drains have gotten clogged, and that has led to sewage overflowing into our area. Such a situation was reported on Sunday night, which was cleared by the corporation on Monday. Similar situation prevails in other areas as well.”
A senior corporation official said that on Monday, workers were deputed to seek out the drain issue, and upon cleaning, workers found a large amount of cow dung dumped into the canal, which led to the clogging.
Corporation commissioner Chitra Vijayan, she said awareness is being given to residents on not dumping solid waste or cow dung in open drains. The corporation has also started UGD works, and proper maintenance is being done to open drains to address the issue.