Hyderabad: City residents continue to suffer from stray dog menace with no resolution in sight, with many citing inaction and laxity of officials, coupled with failures of the municipal corporation’s campaigns, as the major causes.
Even as the mayor Gadwal R. Vijayalakshmi has been deputing veterinary staff to schools for raising awareness, residents termed the steps taken as impractical and irksome, due to a lack of resolution, on social media sites.
A city resident, Anil Kumar, said that his colony in Tolichowki has around 40 strays and that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has failed to take any measures despite repeated complaints.
Dama Srinivasa Rao, citing an incident wherein street dogs killed a child, accused the GHMC of negligence and irresponsible behaviour. “GHMC must take serious steps to curb the dog menace,” he said.
A social media user, Rakesh, posted on Twitter that even after waiting for over three days since filing a complaint, he is yet to hear back from the GHMC. “It’s been 3 days. Dogs are scaring the children again while they are playing out on Sunday. This should stop,” he posted.
Another city resident, C.B. Reddy, said, “Please solve the dog issue in Kakatiya Nagar, (Ramalayam temple location) as there are too many dogs attacking people during night time.”
Some residents, however, were not so restrained.
Dileep Kumar Koppu, a resident, questioned GHMC: “Are you guys only vaccinating them? Aren't you guys neutering the stray dogs? If not, why? Then how would you plan to control the stray dog epidemic in Hyderabad? Please answer as I am concerned to send my boy out to play.”
A few residents, meanwhile, said that translocating dogs from one location to another is not the solution.
Gupta Priyanshu, a resident, posted on social media: “Do you really think the solution is to randomly pick up dogs and dump them in other localities? We need to simply train the citizens on how they can behave with dogs and show some humanity. I have unconditionally adopted 15 stray dogs. The idea is simple, just feed and love the dogs and they bring no harm to you.”
Another resident, Rahul Rajendra, called on the government to effectively utilise funds to curb the stray population and ensure care for pregnant dogs.
Despite repeated attempts, the city mayor and GHMC authorities were unavailable for comment.
