Published On : Wed, May 4th, 2022

Ex-Mayor Joshi takes up stray dog issue with NMC boss

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Nagpur: Concerned over stray dog menace and the hazards it posed to Nagpurians, former Mayor Sandeep Joshi took up the issue with Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B, Additional Commissioner Ram Joshi and Veterinary Officer Dr Gajendra Mahalle recently.

According to Joshi, citizens in all parts of Nagpur city are suffering due to the havoc caused by stray dogs. Many people were injured when the dogs attacked them. Such incidents are happening every day in the city. A number of accidents have taken place as the stray dogs chase the vehicles, Joshi said.

The former Mayor said that this stray dog problem is unfortunately not looked at in the same way as the problems of basic facilities like roads, water, electricity etc. In the early days, the stray dogs were killed by the NMC, so the number of dogs in the city had declined. But in the subsequent period, as per the directives of Supreme Court, Central and State Government, stray dogs can no longer be eliminated. Instead, the number of stray dogs could be achieved through sterilization, Joshi said.

In private veterinary clinics, the cost of sterilization for a female dog is Rs 5000 and for a male dog it is Rs 3,500. The rate fixed by the government is Rs. 1600. When Sandeep Joshi was the Mayor, he himself had taken important initiatives to deal with the problem and a provision of Rs 3 crore was also made.

Unfortunately, due to Corona, these provisions and subsequent tenders were not successful. Even though the State Government rate is Rs. 1600, it is difficult to pay the money for sterilization. The city has a large number of dogs so it is difficult to perform such large number of sterilization operations. The Maharashtra Government has decided to provide Rs 18 crore to four municipalities including Nagpur Municipal Corporation. But as a citizen, everyone has a responsibility. Many people are feeding dogs out of love for the species. So can everyone come together and sterilize stray dogs through public participation? Or can charitable organizations in the city help?

Such a discussion was also held between \the Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B and former Mayor Sandeep Joshi.

The menace of stray dogs is not a new phenomenon in Nagpur. As per reports, now the situation has reached its worst level and the citizens of the city are really scared of this and have created a panic atmosphere across the city. In view of this serious condition, the civic administration has asked the support from animal welfare organizations to carry out the sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination of the strays in city.