The stray dog menace that has haunted the city for some time now does not appear to have a solution in hindsight.The proposal of the Municipal Corporation to construct a dog pound has been hanging fire for over four years now even as over 5,000 stray dogs continue to wreak havoc regularly.While a site in Dadumajra was initially identified for the construction of a dog pound, it met strong opposition from the residents, including area councillor Kamlesh. She rued that the garbage of the entire city was already being dumped at the area dumping site and therefore, the dog pound should be located at some other place. Several suggestions followed suit: a dog pound in the dumping ground or at a site located in the outskirts of the city or even in Maloya or Hallomajra.In 2007, the then UT Finance Secretary S K Sandhu had assured Municipal Commissioner P S Aujla that land required for the construction of the dog pound will be handed over to the corporation in a few days. The corporation identified half-an-acre of land at Dhanas for the purpose.A proposal was also mooted to relocate the dog pound to Sector 25 at a site allocated to the People for Animals (PFA). A two-acre plot of land was given to the organisation to set up a centre. The issue, meanwhile, finds a mention in the discussion of the coordination committee meetings of the UT Administration and Municipal Corporation with Mayor Pardeep Chhabra said to have shown urgency for a quick start to the project.Mayor Pardeep Chhabra says, “The large number of stray dogs is a menace. Some steps will be taken at the earliest and we hope to finalise the site for the dog pound in the coming days.”The dogs, at present, are picked up, sterilised and then dropped back in the same sector. The agencies involved in the process include PFA as well as Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
