NEW DELHI: Seven-year-old Mamun was playing in a park in Okhla when he was bitten by a stray dog. Mamun died. With the growing number of stray dogs in the capital, such incidents are increasing, keeping civic bodies on tenterhooks.
To contain the problem, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) is planning to build a dog pound to provide shelter to stray dogs. In a letter to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, the corporation has asked for land to build a shelter.
“This is a big problem. Dog biting incidents are increasing. LG is looking into the matter. We have asked for five acres of land from Delhi Development Authority (DDA). We hope this materialises soon,” NDMC Mayor Ravinder Gupta told The Sunday Standard.
The civic body, however, doesn’t have enough money or manpower for the project and wants to get into a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement. For that, it will have to wait for DDA to allot them land.
“Treating dogs and taking care of them require huge money, which we do not have. If we take a dog in, we will keep it under observation for a day or two at least. If it gets better, we will leave him in the same area. If the treatment doesn’t work, the animal will stay at the pound,” said an officer in the veterinary department of the MCD.
The corporation has also floated a tender for conducting a census of stray as well as pet dogs. Two companies—HSIA-Human Resource for Sterilization and IDS-Industrial Development Services Pvt Limited—have shown interest in the project. While the latter has given no clauses, the former has made it clear that it will not be able to conduct the census in all the 104 wards. The corporation needs a minimum of two companies for the dog census. “The companies will have to visit nooks and corners to count the dogs and categorise them according to their gender. Hopefully, things work out soon,” added the officer.
Animal lovers of Delhi, however, want the corporation to tackle the issue as per the law. Without infrastructure to run the project, the only option left for the corporation is to euthanise the dogs. Now, the NDMC has also filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court defending the practice.