Stray dogs: As Chandigarh MC 'fails', Sector 10 residents take over

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, March 14

Fed up with the stray dog sterilisation drive of the local Municipal Corporation, which has “failed” to yield the desired results, a group of residents in Sector 10 has come together to get dogs sterilised by hiring an agency.

The residents, along with the agency, have sterilised 15 to 20 dogs so far since the drive started sometime ago. The dogs are also vaccinated against rabies and other diseases. “Residents here are suffering due to the stray dog menace. My father was bitten by a stray dog. We knocked at the doors of the MC, but it failed to curb the menace. After that, around 15 of us pooled in money and hired an NGO for the job. I wish more residents in our sector come forward as it is a costly affair,” stated Sector 10 resident Anmol Partap Mann, an advocate.

He said as per a survey conducted by them, there were around 50 dogs, but new puppies kept on adding to the count. Mann said, “We first approached local councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, who was helpful and arranged MC vans to pick stray dogs. However, workers of the MC-hired agency failed to catch canines. Once, we got a dog caught for sterilisation. However, after two days, the workers left the dog without sterilisation. Asked, they said they already had a lot of dogs to cater to.” “We were shocked to see the state of affairs. Thus, we took it on ourselves,” he rued.

The president of the RWA, Sector 10, Col Kulwinder Singh (retd), said, “Since the MC failed to do the needful, we had no option but to make our own arrangements to save residents.”

Mann said, “We are following all animal birth-control norms while carrying out the exercise. The agency hired for the job is already on the work and is registered.”

In the last survey conducted by the UT Animal Husbandry Department in 2018, the number of stray dogs was pegged at 12,920. However, the MC claims to have sterilised around 20,000 dogs till August last year since 2015 when sterilisation first started in the city. The MC drive had earlier remained suspended for nearly a year as it failed to find any agency for the job. Now, the tenure of the current agency has also come to an end and the firm is on an extension as a new company is yet to be hired.

‘Had no option’

Since the MC failed to do the needful, we had no option but to make our own arrangements to save residents. — Col Kulwinder Singh (retd), president, RWA, Sec 10

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