New Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) standing committee chairperson Satya Sharma has asked the deputy commissioners of all 12 zones to submit within a week reports specifying action taken to identify feeding points for stray dogs in the city.The letter, issued on Sept 8, said three to four spots should be identified per ward with councillor consensus. Thus, over 1,000 feeding spots need to be established in 250 municipal wards. Sharma noted that despite Supreme Court directions, no report had been submitted yet by the sub-committee formed to deal with the issue.“The number of stray dogs in NCR is increasing daily, leading to frequent cases of dog bites. During the House, standing committee and the wards committee meetings, complaints about stray animals are regularly raised by councillors. It is often observed that people feed dogs on the streets and other public places, which causes littering,” her letter stated.“During the feeding process, especially in public areas, incidents of stray dogs barking at others, chasing them, and at times attempting to bite are also observed. Since the SC already ordered MCD to take swift action on this matter, and the report from the sub-committee formed by the corporation has not yet been submitted, it is important that necessary action should be taken on priority,” she said.On Aug 30, members of the sub-committee on stray dogs conducted a joint inspection of five animal birth control centres at Masoodpur, Dwarka and Bijwasan. They observed that the space was underutilised at the two Dwarka units and issued directions to the NGO running the centre to provide details of dogs immunised in the past few months and to fully utilise the space.“MCD is sterilising stray dogs at 13 animal birth control centres and plans to visit the remaining facilities soon. I have also asked the department to give a status update on the project for expanding sterilisation shelters at Bijwasan ABC centre, as it is already delayed. At other centres, instructions have been given to increase daily immunisation numbers,” said Sharma.On Aug 22, the SC modified its earlier order and directed authorities to capture stray dogs, sterilise and immunise them, and then release them back to their original areas. It added that only dogs that are rabid or excessively aggressive are to be kept off the streets. The court also banned the public distribution of food and called for designated feeding areas and a nationwide policy to be developed.Thereafter, MCD identified about one acre of land at the Dwarka ABC centre for developing shades to keep strays separate, as well as creating kennels for aggressive and infected dogs. However, work is yet to start on the project.
