Chandigarh dogged by canines, doubts over MC’s sterilisation claims

Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 18

While the Municipal Corporation claims to have sterilised about 2,000 dogs in the past four months, packs of canines in various localities have raised eyebrows over the claim of the civic body.

According to the MC statistics, the corporation restarted its sterilisation drive in September last year through a private agency. The programme first started in 2015 in the city and till now, they claim to have operated on 17,000 dogs.

However, residents do not see any progress at the ground level. “If it is true, all dogs should be sterilised in another six months. In our locality, the stray dog menace has never been curtailed. We fear moving out of our houses,” said RK Garg, president of a city-based senior citizens’ association.

Echoing similar views, Pulkit Sharma, general secretary, Residents Welfare Association, Sector 35, said: “The number of dogs has only been increasing in our locality. We have never seen any MC vehicle take dogs for sterilisation. Only when we complain, they swing into action.”

Taranjit Singh, a regular walker at Sukhna Lake, shared: “There are a large number of dogs at Sukhna Lake. They keep following while people jog or walk there. The MC must carry out a sterilisation drive at least around the lake and Rock Garden.”

In a random check, the Tribune correspondent saw about 10-12 dogs in streets of Sector 29, 30, 45 and others.

“We have lodged complaints with the MC several times, but things have not improved,” said a Sector 30 resident. Around 25-35 cases of dog bite are reported from the city on a daily basis.

An MC official, who looks after the sterilisation drive, said: “We are supposed to contain the dog population not finish it. Our vehicles visit different areas and wherever we find unoperated dogs, we pick them up for sterilisation. We drop them back at the same place after the operation as per the law. We do not sterilise dogs below six months of age and those found pregnant. We have a monthly target of sterilising 100-150 dogs, but we are able to operate upon 450-500 dogs a month.”

Dr Amrit Warring, Municipal Officer of Health (MOH), said: “We are sincerely making efforts, but it takes time to break their cycle. It will take some months for the outcome to be apparent. We have witnessed that the aggressiveness in the dog bites cases has reduced.”