HYDERABAD: There are at least 89 stray dogs per km, according to a rough calculation that compares the number of stray dogs in the city to the number of kilometres.
While GHMC authorities claim that the stray dog population has decreased, their population has actually climbed to eight lakh as the corporation has only been undertaking animal birth control operations after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The civic authority recently conducted a survey that found over eight lakh stray dogs in the city (89 stray dogs per km with the total city road length being 9,000 km) yet, on paper, the nodal agency has been managing to neuter only 60,000 to 70,000 stray dogs per year with a Rs 18 crore budget, sources claimed. The authorities, including NGOs, have allegedly been swindling around Rs 10 crore from the total Rs 18 crore.
Accusing the corporation of swindling over Rs 10 crore spent in the guise of reducing the stray dog menace, corporators from all parties demanded the GHMC Mayor and commissioner's resignation. When the Congress leaders led by floor leader in GHMC Darpalli Rajashekhar sought to submit a representation, both the Mayor and the GHMC commissioner were missing from their offices, and they gave the representation to a toy dog on the GHMC premises as a symbolic protest.
Further, he slammed MAUD minister K.T. Rama Rao for his “ludicrous statemebt” that the stray dog population must be “artificially controlled”, which reflects “his own incompetence and inefficiency”. On the other hand, Malkajgiri corporator V. Sravan, representing the BJP, accused the GHMC and its officials of miserably failing to combat the stray dog menace, while demanding that the Mayor step down as well as call for an emergency meeting to review the measures. Not to be left behind, the TRS and MIM corporators who sought anonymity claimed that they receive two to three distress calls each day related to stray dog menace, and that the GHMC had failed to resolve public grievances even while over 300 stray dog related issues have been registered by the corporators.
Meanwhile, MAUD special chief secretary Arvind Kumar after the review meeting with GHMC officials asked them to intensify anti-birth control measures by engaging residential welfare associations as well as by identifying areas with dense stray dog population.
To combat the city's stray dog menace, the corporation undertook dog sterilisations three years back in 2020. Despite tall claims of the civic body, the officials could barely manage to sterilise approximately 50,000 to 60,000 stray dogs each year on an average. Officials even stated that, in contrast to other municipal corporations around the country, the corporation has been conducting birth control sterilisation operations at a lower cost, with the civic body footing recovery fees following the surgery. According to field level reports, senior authorities working in the veterinary wing in connivance with doctors have been allegedly swindling the funds allocated for the birth control surgeries.
In 2020, the municipal corporation enlisted the help of five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to handle sterilisation, anti-rabies vaccination, and related issues for the stray dogs as part of a pilot project. To that end, the municipal corporation signed agreements with the five NGOs, and the organisations have already began working. This was being done as part of guaranteeing 100% sterilising of stray dogs across the GHMC limits.
