No dog sterilisation centres in sight despite budget hike

Months ago, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had promised to come up with new centres in Bijwasan, Mundela, Nangli and Masoodpur which would have a capacity to sterilise 100 dogs per day. However, nothing has come up at the ground level yet.

Now, when the population of stray dogs is shooting up, it has been revealed that the Corporation is yet to utilise its budget to control dog menace. In this year’s budget, SDMC’s provision of Rs 2 crore was increased to Rs 10.40 crore for effective control of dog bite menace but it seems that nothing has been done on the ground. The matter was raised by Leader of Opposition Farhad Suri and a host of councillors in the SDMC House meeting on Monday. As per the estimates, there are nearly two lakh stray dogs in South Corporation areas. Within April-December 2015, 20,936 dogs were sterilised by the SDMC. In April 2013-March 2014, 14,349 dogs were sterilised which rose to 19,398 by March 2015. “The figures show that only 10 per cent have been sterilised by the South Corporation. Whereas, to maintain the status quo of the number, at least 70 per cent should be sterilised otherwise the number of dogs will grow tremendously. Increasing, the budget will not serve the purpose then. They need to work on the ground in order to ensure results. SDMC has failed in this regard. They are trying to get dog vans but their conditions are pathetic. A dog is known to have strong sense of smell, so when these vans arrive, the dogs immediately run away due to the stench,” said Suri.

SDMC reveals that a total of 3,430 cases of dog bites were registered in 2015. Total numbers of dog bites were 5,295 in 2014. SDMC councillor from Jangpura Extension, Abhishek Dutt pointed out that while the number of dog bites are increasing, the unit of dog catchers are severely short-staffed.