Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) informed the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday that it had identified four sites to accommodate the city’s over 90,000 stray dogs. NMC counsel Sudhir Puranik said that the identified areas range between 13.49 hectares and 52.73 hectares.
A division bench comprising Justice Avinash Gharote and Justice Mukulika Jawalkar directed the civic body to inform the court about the steps taken to make arrangements for accommodating these canines. “Since the matter is before the Supreme Court, this PIL will be listed on June 13 with the connected matter,” the bench said.
These directives came during the hearing of a PIL by social activist Vijay Talewar through lawyer Firdos Mirza regarding the increasing stray dog menace in the city, which was later converted into a PIL.
Puranik mentioned that NMC had identified one site each at Dudhabhari (Rithi) and Tishti, and two at Gondkhairi. The first two areas are about 46 and 60 km from Nagpur, while the latter are 23 km away.
During the last hearing, the HC had verbally directed Maharashtra Government to finalize the land parcels outside the city to accommodate the 90,000 stray dogs. It also instructed the petitioner and government lawyers to submit data regarding attacks by stray dogs on citizens and human deaths due to rabies in the city over the last few years.
