Stray dog mauls Doraha boy, locals blame civic body

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, May 26

Residents, especially children, senior citizens and women, are time and again falling victims to stray dogs, not only in the city but also in neighbouring towns and villages. The latest victim is a four-year-old child of Barmalipur village near Doraha.

The child, Mehtab Singh, was standing in front of his house on Saturday evening, when he was suddenly attacked by a stray dog, who bit his cheek and took away a portion of flesh. As the terrified child raised alarm, his parents and other onlookers rescued him from the dog. The child was taken to a private hospital in Doraha from where he was referred to a hospital in the city, where he is under treatment.

A city-based RTI activist, Arvind Sharma, has filed a complaint with the Punjab Human Rights Commission, seeking its intervention and directions to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation to take effective steps for curbing the proliferating population of stray dogs. “The dog menace in the city has assumed alarming proportions and people are falling victim to strays, who at times, attack them in packs,” Sharma said in his complaint.

The activist said as per the information provided by the Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital, it seems Ludhiana had acquired the notoriety of being the dog bite capital of the state. As per data acquired under the Right to Information Act, during the last 15-month period (January 2018 to March 2019), 7,619 dog bite cases were reported in the hospital from the city and its surrounding areas, the complainant added.

Sharma said the MC had not been taking the sterilisation of dogs seriously and its projects towards this end had failed for various reasons.