Man mauled by stray dogs, third death in two months in Patiala district

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 17

There seems to be no respite in sight from stray dog menace in Patiala district. In yet another incident, a pack of stray dogs mauled a farm labourer to death in a village located in the town of Nabha. The victim has been identified as Gurvinder Singh (40), from Uttar Pradesh (UP), who was working as a foreman of a combine harvester.

COMPENSATION NOT BEING OFFERED

• Member of Parliament Preneet Kaur said the kin of those killed by dogs were not receiving compensation
• An 11-year-old child was killed by dogs at Barsat village in February. Victim’s father Sandeep Singh had demanded compensation, but nothing was offered, the BJP nominee claimed
• Jeet Singh (80), a resident of Sauja village, was bitten to death by dogs in February. His son Sukhvir Singh said he was also waiting for the compensation

The incident took place yesterday when he was in the fields before operating the machine. Suddenly, he was attacked by a pack of dogs. According to the residents, Gurvinder was killed in the attack and dogs mauled his head and other body parts.

The only breadwinner of the family, he has left behind three little children and wife. He had arrived at the village a few days ago to harvest the wheat crop.

According to the residents, three dog bite deaths have been reported in the area in the past two months, but no action has been taken by the authorities. Earlier, an 80-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy was killed by dogs.

The matter snowballed into a political issue in the run-up of elections with sitting Member Parliament (MP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contestant from Patiala, Preneet Kaur, accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime for being lax on the issue of growing stray dog population. She said that the kin of those killed by the dogs are not receiving compensation either.

The MP said that 11-year-old Karanpreet Singh was mauled by dogs at Barsat in February while he was playing with his siblings. The victim’s father, Sandeep Singh, had applied for victim compensation but nothing was offered.

Former sarpanch of Barsat village Anil Kumar said that at the time of death, many government officials had visited the village and assured to start a sterilisation project to control the dog population, but a few days after the incident, everything was forgotten.

Similarly, Jeet Singh (80), a resident of Sauja village near Nabha was also bitten to death by dogs in February.

His son Sukhvir Singh said that he was also waiting for victim compensation. “Sadly, the government is not addressing the issue of stray dog menace. My father was brutally killed by a dog, the very thought of it does not let me sleep,” said Sukhvir.

When asked, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said that a team under the supervision of SDM has been entrusted to start a dog sterilisation project in the town. Further, a committee deals with the victim compensation scheme in case of dog bite death and the compensation will be issued in the due course of time.

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