Mohali MC sans record of stray canines

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 3

Despite a rise in dog-bite cases, the Mohali Municipal Corporation is yet to pass a resolution on the registration of pet dogs in the city.

As many as 12 dog-bite cases are reported on an average every day at three main government hospitals in Mohali district.

Sources said in most of the dog-bite cases, victims were small children who fall prey to stray dogs. Most of the victims belong to the rural and/or slum areas.

Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh admitted that they were receiving more than 350 cases on an average every month. He said all three hospitals in Mohali, Kharar and Dera Bassi were fully equipped to treat dog-bite patients with proper medicines, including anti-rabies injections.

For sterilisation of stray dogs in the city, the Mohali Municipal Corporation has hired the services of an NGO. According to a senior MC official, the NGO had already sterilised more than 5,000 stray dogs in the town so far.

Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said they had kept on hold the passing of resolution on registration of pet dogs in the city. Detailed discussion would be held on the issue before passing the resolution. The same would be forwarded to the Local Bodies Department for issuing the notification on animal bylaws.

Surprisingly, there is no record of the number of stray dogs in the town. The MC or any other government agency have no official record of the number of stray dogs in Mohali.

“We have no record of the number of stray dogs here. However, according to a rough estimate, the number could be nearly 6,500,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Fact file

January 22, 2020: An NRI, Monica, was bitten by stray dogs in Phase 9. She had gone to meet her mother there.

December 17, 2019: Komal Bhatia, a resident of Jaipuria Sunrise Society on VIP Road, Zirakpur, was bitten by the pet dog of her neighbour Sandeep Kaur.

November 27, 2019: A 62-year-old man, Dr Anil Joshi, was bitten by an unchained Pitbull dog in Phase VII. The Mataur police had booked the pet dog owner for posing threat to residents of Phase VII, Mohali.

November 27, 2019: In another case on the same day, a 55-year-old woman, Anita Jaiswal, a resident of Hari Om Welfare Society, Kumaon Colony, Nayagaon in Mohali, was bitten by her neighbour’s pet Boerboel dog. The dog had bit her earlier on November 9 too. Dog owner Anjani Kumar, a lab technician at the PGI, was arrested and later released on bail.