BMC delays decision on stray dogs, again

Civic administration had proposed to appoint NGO for sterilising and
immunising 100 dogs per day

Express News Service

Mumbai, August 08: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Standing
Committee has once again delayed the decision on sterilisation of stray
dogs.

The civic administration had proposed to appoint Animal Welfare Society for
sterilising and immunising 100 dogs per day at the cost of Rs 1,200 per dog.
The dog control programme would be implemented at an open plot admeasuring
50,000 sq feet at Juhu Kapaswadi. However, when the proposal came for
discussion on Wednesday, the Standing Committee members unanimously
postponed the decision.

Corporators as well as NGOs are demanding transparency in the proposal for
sterilisation and immunisation programme.

Standing Committee member Sameer Desai said that the residents around the
area of Kapaswadi have expressed their opposition on the issue which needs
to be looked at before clearing the proposal. Also, the proposal talks of
water and electricity connections which needs to be verified at ground
level.

Bhalchandra Shirsat, another member, too said that the proposal needs to be
discussed in depth. "On the face of it the proposal appears costly; it seems
as if it has sufficient expertise and trained labour to deal with such an
important issue. However, it is better to doubly verify,'' he said.

When contacted, Chief Executive Officer Welfare for Stray Dog Abodh Aras,
who is also the member of monitoring committee set by the HC, said that the
BMC has kept the monitoring committee ignorant on the issue of sterilisation
and that till now NGOs were carrying out sterilisation for free and the BMC
has never reimbursed the cost. "The BMC is showing bias towards one NGO and
is paying it large amounts per dog for sterilisation,'' he said.

Aras further said the other NGOs and members of the monitoring committee
want the BMC to discuss the proposal of sterilisation with them before it
gets approved. "The sterilisation programme is already delayed by the BMC
for the last five ,years but before approving it and implementing it this
year, there is need for transparency,'' he said.

Publication : IE; Section : News; Pg : 3; Date : 9/8/07
URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=250016