NGOs devoted to taking care of stray dogs here have suspended all their activities due to lack of funds. The city NGOs claim that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has not paid them their dues for the past six months.CUPA trustee Sanovar Bharucha says that the BBMP owes CUPA Rs 24 lakh and that the NGOs have together decided not to carry out any form of programme until their dues are settled. However, a small staff performs sterilisation by visiting the area if there is a need, she added.The NGOs say that it will be almost impossible to return to the operations that used to be done in a controlled manner. KRUPA trustee Poornima Harish said, “Past three months have destroyed all the good work done by us in the last four years. It's not that we don't want to catch the dogs, it's just that we cannot afford to do so now.”The amount due for KRUPA from the BBMP is roughly Rs 14 lakh, she adds. Animal husbandry department deputy director Prakash Reddy said that the corporation owes around Rs 35 lakh to the four NGOs in the city and that their bills will be cleared within a day or two.Earlier, in a stopgap measure, the BBMP had randomly picked dogs and packed the dog pounds in the city. That had forced the NGOs to suspend all the programmes including birth control and immunisation.
