In a bid to curb dog menace in the national capital, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Wednesday announced that it would hold a dog sterilisation camp within 15 days, an issue pending since several years.
To contain the problem, North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner P.K. Gupta promised to build a dog pound to provide shelter to the stray dogs. “If the department fails to curb the dog menace in the area, strict action would be taken against the officials and we may also think of dissolving the department and give away the responsibility of stray animals to NGOs,” Mr Gupta said.
The issue was taken up during the standing committee meeting held on Wednesday, where the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel had put up a short notice seeking details of stray animals falling under the jurisdiction of the North corporation.
The camp would be held in ward number 42, belonging to Prithvi Singh Rathore, a member of the standing committee.A corporation report suggest that the veterinary department of the North corporation has 10 doctors, 41 dog catchers and in 2014-2015, the corporation had spent Rs167 lakh on the salaries of its staff. The report also states that Delhi has about 17 lakh stray animals. However, the figures do not include monkeys. The civic body has recorded 12 rabies deaths so far this year, with 27,260 cases of rabies. Interestingly, the cases have dropped this year as compared to the statistics of 2014. Last year, the corporation recorded 20 deaths caused by rabies, with 46,075 number of cases.
Directing the officials, standing committee chairman Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj said that if the veterinary department fails to curb the dog menace, the corporation would take strict action against the defaulters.
Mr Gupta announced that the first-ever sterilisation camp of such sort would be held within a time-bound frame, and would be a routine affair in the coming days.
