Srinagar: The growing menace of dogs across Kashmir came under the scanner again as a ten-year old boy was mauled to death in Baramulla’s Pattan on February 6.
The people across Kashmir are aghast over the slack approach of concerned authorities and are questioning the provisions made to counter this growing menace.
Notwithstanding the sharp rise in dog-bite cases, there is no dog sterilisation programme anywhere across Kashmir, except Srinagar.
However, even in Srinagar, the ambitious project still lingers on, awaiting its completion.
“Except for Srinagar, there are no dog sterilisation programmes in any other district of Kashmir, including Baramulla that witnessed the death of a boy on Sunday, following dog attack,” officials confirmed.
While talking to Greater Kashmir, Touseef Raina chairman Baramulla Municipal Council said that there was no dog sterilization programme in the district. He said that the February 6 incident had highlighted the need for such a project.
“This is a good point you’ve brought to my notice. We are going to take steps so that a programme is formed to control the growing dog menace. We will also launch awareness programmes so that work on such things can be done with the cooperation of people,” Raina said.
The officials from the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) said that as the menace of growing dog population gripped the city, the SMC started a project to set up multiple dog sterilization centres to control the canine population.
However, the project, seemingly, has not moved beyond paperwork for long. The major dog sterilization facility at Tengpora has been awaiting completion for the past many years.
In Srinagar, which again is grappling with the growing population of dogs, the SMC has only one functional centre for dog sterilization at SKUAST, Shuhama.
“We have only one dog sterilization centre functional at Shuhama with a capacity of 10-15 surgeries per day. With the addition of three more centres, which are part of a new project, we will be able to carry out 240 sterilization surgeries per day,” said an official.
The officials said that as part of a project to take up sterilisation at a large scale, SMC was going to add three more dog sterilization centres, in addition to the existing one at Shuhama. “One will be added at Shuhama, another at Tengpora and the location for the third one is yet to be finalised,” an official informed.
The locals are, however, aghast as the dog population is growing and the project is still lingering.
“Last year an eight-year old Pulwama boy was killed after dogs attacked him and within a year another attack happened. As a parent, I am extremely worried about seeing an explosion of the dog population while administration is simply oblivious to the problem. Social media is filled with pictures of stray dogs roaming in markets, residential areas and other important landmarks. In our area of Hazratbal, people are afraid to go out due to the fear of stray dogs. You see important places even the hospitals have dogs roaming around and the same is the case across Srinagar,” said Abdul Majeed from Hazratbal.
When contacted, SMC veterinary officer, Dr Tawheed Ahmed said that to add more sterilization centres, the tenders were already floated. He said to add one more sterilization centre in Shuhama, the work would be allotted this week only.
“We had many meetings related to the progress of the project. In the case of the Tengpora facility, pending work only involves finishing touches. The pending work is only internal. Technical and administrative approval is done in the Tengpora project and work will begin soon. We are adding one more sterilization project in Srinagar and we are working to identify the land for that,” Tawheed said.