MCD identifies land to build stray dog shelters in Delhi following Supreme Court order

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on August 11 directed the relocation of stray dogs to shelters. The suo motu matter was Wednesday referred to a three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria, which is set to hear it Thursday.

The MCD official said the process of relocating stray dogs has already started. “In phase 1, we caught around 150 aggressive dogs after identifying them and upon receiving complaints from the resident welfare association. We can accommodate at least 2,000 dogs in the existing facility of Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres (facilities for sterilising and vaccinating stray dogs to control their population).”

“If the Supreme Court orders to relocate the dogs, we will build a shelter on 3 acres of MCD land located in Dwarka which can easily accommodate up to 2,000-3,000 dogs,” the official said, adding that majority of the dog can be relocated in phase 3 by building a shelter on the 82 acres of land in the Ghogha village.

“However, this can start only if we can get funds from the Centre or the Delhi government since it will require taking permanent care of the dogs, including food, shelter and treatment,” the official added.

As of Wednesday night, approximately 300 dogs have been picked up from the Red Fort area over the past three days, and verbal orders have been issued to the ABC centres not to release them back.

“We have stationed our vans around the clock at the Red Fort and instructed the ABC centres not to release any dogs,” said the MCD official.

While pronouncing the August 11 order, the Supreme Court said that “there should not be any compromise in undertaking any exercise” and warned that “if any individual or organisation comes in the way of picking up stray dogs or rounding them up, we will proceed to take action against any such resistance”.

This order has received mixed reactions; some welcome it as a necessary measure for public safety, while animal rights activists and welfare groups termed it impractical. They stated that the order violated the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, which require that after vaccination, dogs should be returned to the same locality from where they were picked up.

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