TIRUPATI: The stray dog menace continues to haunt several residential areas of the city, causing panic among the locals, particularly at night.
Residents of Korlagunta, one of the largest divisions, complained that children are being attacked by these dogs after dusk. The civic body took no action to check the menace or catch the dogs.
“In the morning, my son was playing outside the house. He was surrounded by stray dogs and one of them bit him. He screamed for help. If I hadn't arrived in time, other children too might have become victims," said the boy's mother, Bonam Kiranmayee.
Strays dogs are mainly creating nuisance in Subbareddy Nagar, Maruti Nagar, Ramalayam Road, Sanjay Gandhi Colony, Korlagunta main road, Siddareddy street, Madhav Puram, Akkarampalli road, Sai Nagar, Satyanarayana Puram residential areas. Sometimes they appear in groups of 5 to 10 in the middle of the road, obstructing traffic and pedestrians.
The municipal body has not taken up the sterilization drive for the past several months. In some places, the presence of dogs is increasing even during day-time.
As per an estimate, the number of strays in the city is around 7,000, of which 3000 – 4000 have undergone sterilization.
A civic official said lack of manpower and vehicles caused the suspension of the sterilization drive. "In the past, we launched a drive with help from a local NGO, but it faltered due to lack of sufficient manpower with the NGO.”
Municipal officials claim that they have a set of men to do the sterilization job as well as a dog-catcher truck. Locals say they neither saw the dog-catcher truck nor the catchers in the streets for several months.
"When we complain to the officials about the stray dogs, we are met with empty promises from civic officials,” said M Jagadeesh of Korlagunta.
