CHENNAI: Though the state government hiked the Animal Birth Control (ABC) surgery rates to keep a check on the stray dog population, no corporation or local body is abiding by it. In March this year, the Animal Husbandry department issued an order revising the minimum rate to carry out ABC from Rs 445 to Rs 1,650, which includes Rs 200 for dog catching and admission, and Rs 1,450 for pre-operation care and post-operative care.
The local bodies are the primary implementing agencies of the ABC programme. However, in most of the districts, they are unable to implement it due to lack of facilities and are outsourcing the job to NGOs, who have permission from the Animal Welfare Board of India. So far, the programme hasn’t been successful resulting in ballooning of stray dog population, thereby dog bites and the threat of deadly rabies infection.
As per the information tabled in Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar last year, Tamil Nadu ranks second in the country when it comes to number of dog bites. In 2022, the state has reported 3,30,264 dog-bite cases. What is startling is that the number is one lakh higher than the previous year. On the other hand, states like Uttar Pradesh have brought down the cases to a meagre 13,455. In 2019, UP had the dubious distinction topping the table with over 20 lakh dog-bite cases.
State Animal Welfare Board member Shruti Vinodh Raj agreed there has been a delay is local bodies complying with the government order and failure of ABC programme so far. “The doctors focus only on surgery and not on the post operative care. There are also issues of doctors giving subcontract to other vets who are not properly trained. To address the issues, a budgetary allocation of `10 crore was made,” he said.
Also, there is no baseline data available on stray-dog population. Only Coimbatore has carried out a systematic and scientific population census, which gives you zone-wise data and is updated constantly.
Coimbatore corporation commissioner M Pratap told TNIE: “As of now, the corporation has three ABC centres which are outsourced to NGOs for conducting surgeries. Four months ago, we had revised the surgery rate per dog from Rs 445 to Rs 700. The new rate of Rs 1,650 is under consideration.”
Chennai Corporation is still offering the old rate of `445. J Kamal Hussain, veterinary officer, of Greater Chennai Corporation, said it will take another few weeks for the G.O. to be implemented. “The commissioner is likely to issue the order in 15 days,” he said.
In Chennai, the corporation does 16,000 surgeries annually. Hussain said they plan to do 20,000 surgeries during 2023-24. The corporation is renovating the three old ABC centres at a cost of Rs 20 crore and newly opened two new centres. Besides the corporation, Blue Cross does 4,000 surgeries per year.
S Vinod Kumar, general manager, of Blue Cross, said: “We incur Rs 1,900 per dog for conducting ABC surgery. So far, the Chennai corporation is paying us Rs 420 per dog. It’s a huge financial burden on the NGOs.”