The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD bid to check dog menace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD bid to check dog menace

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30. In its effort to make the Capital rabies-free in the next two years, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will now tackle the menace of stray dogs by adopting an area-based approach that will involve closer coordination with residents' welfare associations.

Moving away from its previously "complaint-based'' practice, the civic body will now work with a more area-specific approach, the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, said at a seminar on "Delhi's Dog Control Programme'' held at India Habitat Centre here on Tuesday.

"Under the new scheme we will need to carry out a survey of the colony and identify the `dog locations'. We will need to co-ordinate the picking up of these dogs for sterilisation and vaccination. Once all dogs are sterilised and vaccinated, there is need to keep a tab on their numbers and do a dog census from time to time. All these efforts will help us make Delhi rabies-free by the target time,'' said Mr. Mehta.

Also present at the seminar were members of non-government organisations, residents' welfare associations and people engaged in the field.

The Municipal Commissioner stressed that the Capital's dog population needs to be sterilised and vaccinated and the faster Delhi does it the better. "The present approach of sterilisation on complaint basis is not effective. We need to bring in a more concentrated approach based on each area of a colony. This has to be done in a time-bound manner and local residents would be required to co-operate with non-government organisations to create a plan or total sterilisation and vaccination for the colony,'' explained the officer in charge of the rabies control programme of MCD, Dinesh Sharma.

There is also a proposal to increase the capacity of sterilisation and immunisation of stray dogs by putting up porta cabin kennels at veterinary hospitals for keeping sterilised dogs during their post operative care.

Meanwhile, MCD also plans to create awareness about better management of garbage as throwing of rubbish in the open attracts the stray dog population.

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