Only 22% of Gurgaon’s stray dogs sterilised, Haryana tells Supreme Court

The affidavit also covers neighbouring districts of Nuh, Palwal, and Faridabad, which together reported 80,830 stray dogs across 14 municipalities. Of these, 21,491 have undergone the Animal Birth Control (ABC) procedure.

The state government has reported 2,30,675 stray dogs across 87 urban civic bodies, with 60,812 sterilised, vaccinated, de-wormed, tagged, and released (to the same area from which they were picked up) under the 2023 ABC Rules.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it will issue directions to all states and Union Territories on November 7 on regulating the feeding of stray dogs in government institutions, and similar premises where the employees support canines.

While hearing the matter on October 27, the Supreme Court had noted that the reports of attacks by stray canines are being used to malign India’s image abroad. The court had come down heavily on states and Union Territories for failing to file compliance affidavits in compliance with its previous directions on the issue.

Notably, Faridabad’s civic body health officer Dr Nitish Parwal had in August told The Indian Express that the district has around 50,000 community dogs as per their internal estimates.

Also Read | No dedicated shelters, only one ABC centre but Faridabad civic body confident of managing stray dog population

The court had directed chief secretaries of all states –- excluding West Bengal and Telangana -– to appear personally and explain the lapse.

On Monday, the respective chief secretaries appeared in person before the court and informed the Bench that they had filed their compliance affidavits.

Haryana’s current affidavit cites delays in receiving approval from the Animal Welfare Board and issues related to inter-municipality coordination as reasons for the delayed filing.

From the homepage

‘I will not call it a mishap’: Assam CM Himanta calls Zubeen Garg’s death a ‘murder’

Hoardings to keep out pastors in Chhattsigarh villages: Kerala-based church calls it ‘most divisive boundary since Partition’

Her grit, Her game, Her glory: From Harmanpreet Kaur to Shafali Verma, meet India’s 16 pioneering World Cup winners