Ooty: The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC), an NGO here in this beautiful hill district, has raised objections to the proposed ‘animal pound’ to be set up along the western border of the Ooty lake.
Mr. D. Venugopal, director of NDC, said that the Nilgiris district administration has earmarked four acres of land at Ooty for setting up a pound for stray animals by an NGO with funds from the ‘Special Area Development Programme’.
“The decision is against the interest of the public and the state. The proposed land abuts the western end of the Ooty lake and is an integral part of the Ooty town. It is the only hinterland space for future requirements of the town. The value of the land can be gauged from the fact that the market value of land in the vicinity is between `two to `three crore per acre. The area in which the land lies is a notified slum. The proposed land would be critical for any future slum improvement / development schemes,” he explained.
“When the central and state governments have set top priority for health and sanitation, it would be insensitive for the district administration to add to the health hazards of a slum area. There are already a plastic waste recycling unit and a wet waste disposal unit operating at the proposed site. The proposed site is a wet land and used to be a ‘dhobikhana’ in the past. Setting up a pound for stray and sick animals there would endanger the health of the entire area population which supplies the skilled and unskilled labour for the entire Ooty town,” he further elaborated.
Animal pounds are generally set up well outside the town limits for the sake of the animals as well as the local public. The proposed pound in Ooty does not seem to fulfill any conditions of the same, he noted.
