Thiruvananthapuram: The ambitious plan of the City Corporation to implement microchip tagging of stray dog population as part of the Rabies - Animal Birth Control programme (R-ABC) has terribly failed. The civic body had sanctioned a whopping Rs 92. 21 lakh for the R-ABC programme during the 2017-18 financial year and the authorities could utilise only Rs 28 lakh. The main objective of the project was to implant RFID tags in all dogs in the state capital. However, the authorities couldn't accomplish the project.
The additional chief secretary the other day has pulled up the civic body for ineffective ABC programme and has demanded an explanation from the Corporation Secretary on the action taken by the civic body to address this issue in the past three months.
Corporation Secretary L S Deepa said that the ABC programme is steadily progressing and the civic body is able to sterilise an average of 400 dogs per month. "We received the order from the LSGD today and we have prepared a detailed report on the action taken by us which will be submitted to the LSGD additional secretary on Saturday" said Ms Deepa.
There are around 15 veterinary hospitals under the civic body but none of them has adequate facilities for undertaking sterilisation. "Around 6000 pet dogs were implanted with RFID as part of the initiative. We couldn't do it on stray dogs yet. The sterilisation programme is continuing effectively and we are planning to expand our veterinary hospital at Sreekaryam and upgrade it to ABC centre. Currently, the hospitals at Pettah and Thiruvallam have the facility," said Ms Deepa.
According to official records, there are around 25000 pet animals and around 10,000 strays in the state capital. The local fund audit department has flayed the civic body for not effectively utilising the funds set aside for the purpose. In the audit report, the audit department has mentioned that the civic body invested the funds on RFID without proper planning.
