Written by: Express News Service
2 min readChandigarhApr 5, 2012 01:28 AM IST
First published on: Apr 5, 2012 at 01:28 AM IST
A senior citizen on Wednesday fell prey to the menace of stray dogs after he was attacked by two dogs when he went for a walk.
Varinder Sharma,a resident of Sector 21,was bitten in his arm at the Parrot Park in the morning. The incident highlights the inability of the Municipal Corporation to deal with the problem with around 10 to 12 cases of stray dog bites being reported everyday.
Sharma,who was accompanied by a friend,says a number of stray dogs are present in the Parrot Park. “One of the dogs attacked me after which I fell. Another bit me in the arm. Every street in the sector is full of stray dogs. It is a nightmare even to go for a walk,” he says.
The civic body has been unable to keep a check on the problem. There are around 7,000-8,000 stray dogs in the city. While the MC in collaboration with NGOs is holding sterilisation and immunisation drives,the pace at which these are being held is not sufficient to control the population of stray dogs.
During a recent meeting,a discussion was held for undertaking a programme wherein within a period of six to eight months all the stray dogs in the city were to be sterilised and immunised. However,no decision was taken.
Officials claim the Animal Birth Control rules are being followed. These require the dogs to be placed at the same spot from where it is picked after sterilisation and immunisation.
A proposal for construction of a dog pound has been mooted time and again in the civic body. However,this was found to be unfeasible at a recent meeting. It was felt that it would not be possible to keep all dogs confined in a pound. The cost of their food and upkeep would be high. The issue was widely debated in the civic body after former mayor and councillor Harjinder Kaur was bitten.
The problem of stray dog menace is prevalent in the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and Mohali as well.
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