Hyderabad: After the recent death of a five-year-old boy due to an attack by stray dogs, officers of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Municipal Administration departments held a meeting to combat the menace.
Special chief secretary to the government Arvind Kumar directed officials, to pay special attention to controlling the stray dogs’ menace in GHMC limits. An action plan over the same in GHMC and other municipalities, on a war footing, has been directed.
GHMC officials briefed that there are currently five lakh fifty thousand stray dogs in the GHMC area, which was 8 lakh 50 thousand in the past (2011) but reduced the figure with sterilization operations conducted earlier.
At present, the number has come down to 5 lakh 50 thousand.
GHMC officials have been directed to ensure that ABC (Animal Birth Control) sterilization operations are carried out immediately and water points (water storage facilities) are available in those localities, and colonies.
The municipal authorities have been directed to restrict the hotels, restaurants, function halls, chicken centres and mutton centres within the GHMC limits from dumping waste on the streets. Due to the possible increase in the number of stray dogs in the city, it was ordered to take appropriate measures to prevent them immediately.
Awareness programs will also be conducted for students in government and private schools in the city. School students are burdened by a lack of awareness about pet dogs. “There is a need to develop proper awareness among the students to control it,” said Kumar.
Officials have been ordered to prepare pamphlets and hoardings in this regard.
Directions to take control measures with the help of Slum Development Federations, Town Development Federations and Resident Colony Welfare Associations within the limits of the city and neighbouring municipalities have been given.
Control measures in other municipalities in the state will be taken with the help of SHGs.
A separate mobile app for the registration of pets in the localities of city limits and surrounding municipalities. An identity card will also be issued to the concerned owners as per registration.
Complaints over the dog menace can soon be registered through My GHMC App or can be registered by ringing 040 – 21111111.
He said that the areas where most of the cases are registered should be identified and immediate action should be taken there.
The authorities have been directed to move veterinary teams to the concerned areas and take appropriate measures to curb them and also to pay special attention to the closed transportation area.
The incident, which occurred in the Amberpet locality on Sunday was caught on a CCTV camera.
The boy, Pradeep, had accompanied his father Gangadhar, who worked as a security guard in the area.
Narrating the incident, Gangadhar said that he had his son with him to work on Sunday and while he was strolling outside, a pack of stray dogs attacked him.
Some locals rushed to Pradeep’s rescue and along with Gangadhar took him to a hospital, sources informed further, adding, however, that he was declared dead by the doctors on arrival.
State MA&UD minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said that he would work in full capacity to ensure such incidents do not repeat in the future.
“We’ve been trying to tackle street dog menace in our municipalities. We’ve created animal care centres and animal birth control centres. My sincere condolences to the family and we’ll ensure that our best is done so that these incidents are not repeated,” the BRS leader told ANI.
