Stray dogs

Dogs will outnumber humans soon in Srinagar city, according to a recent survey. Stray dogs are in large numbers on every street of Srinagar and it is very difficult for the people to negotiate these roads and most of the times they become victims of dog bites.  A report prepared by Government Medical College Srinagar (GMC) said that there will be more than 20 lakh canines in the Srinagar city by the year 2020, if the government will not take any measures to curb their population. Although years have passed since this report was submitted to the government, but till date as we are about to reach year 2020, the authorities have slept over this sensitive report.

Many times in the past Court has intervened into the dog menace when some citizens did a PIL to check the population of dogs in city. The priority as per the High Court order was to make the city dog free by confining them to the pounds. The reality is stray dogs in hundreds are moving freely from Lal Chowk to Polo view area in this month of April 2019. It seems that the state administration is only interested in other things and have decided not to take any action on such matters were the human lives are at stake.

Srinagar Municipal Corporation few years back in order to avoid any confrontation with Court said that they will implement the court orders and make Srinagar city dog free. At that time, SMC decided to construct dog pounds at Khimber area of Srinagar. At the initial stage 50 dogs were taken to this shelter by SMC and this project died a slow death as the priority of the government is not to save the common people from dog bites. The people of Srinagar city deserve a better deal from SMC and other wings of the government and at least they should try to control the dog population so as to save the people especially children from dog bites in this city.