Delhi colonies to have demarcated areas for feeding dogs

Four sites have been identified for demarcation at Neb Sarai and Freedom Fighters Colony,along with five sites around Golf View Apartments in Saket,five others at Roop Nagar and three at Kalkaji DDA Colony. Sites will also be identified at Niti Bagh and Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

But it is a volatile truce. A host of complaints have been registered by those who feed dogs regularly against people who harass them. The most common,and serious,cases are of young women who feed dogs being manhandled by neighbours. On the other hand,neighbours and RWAs have alleged that most of the dogs often attack people and that the food left for them litters the colonies.

“Many people object to utensils used to feed the dogs being left at the spots. We have now started feeding dogs on small sheets of newspaper,” said a dog feeder from Defence Colony.

“We have made it a point to choose spots which people are less likely to frequent. These are mostly backlanes and some deadends. While we have been directed to respond first to those areas where the complaints came from,we will start the same exercise at other colonies where it is required to avoid conflict between people and dogs,and between dog-feeders and others. The next areas will be Niti Bagh and KG Marg,” said Anjali Sharma from AWBI.

Meanwhile,at some spots,discontent is still simmering. Completely opposed to dogs being fed within their complex,a few residents from MS flats on KG Marg put up notices on the campus warning anyone feeding dogs. After a Newsline report,an AWBI team has visited the area and decided to designate a feeding site. “But the notices are still up and we are still threatened for feeding dogs. We have to do it on the sly,” said a resident.

Last October,18 dogs were found poisoned in Nizamuddin,from where spats had been reported between residents over feeding of dogs.