Sterilisation of dogs all set to resume in Panchkula on March 24

Sanjay Bumbroo

Panchkula, March 20

After a gap of about five months, sterilisation of dogs would resume in the city from March 24 as the Municipal Corporation (MC) has allotted the work to Bezuban, an NGO.

The NGO offered the lowest bid in the tender and got the work order again.

The contract of the NGO had ended in October last year following which the corporation had sought applications for allotting a fresh contract. However, the work could not be allotted as a single agency was applying for tender.

This time, the MC received more than one application. The lowest bid was placed by Bezuban, which will charge Rs 1,368 each for neutering dogs in the city. The agency will catch stray dogs from the streets and drop them back at the same place after sterilisation. It will sterilise stray canines at the dog care centre set up in Sukhdarshanpur village, which has about 28 cages. Two dogs are kept in one cage. Neutered dogs will be released after six days. As per rough estimates, nearly 8,000 dogs are to be vaccinated in the city.

Since the sterilisation work was stopped, the number of stray dogs in the city had increased considerably. The cases of dog bite also rose during the period. The Civil Hospital, Sector 6, recorded around 1,200 cases of dog bite in January and February this year.

Apart from the Civil Hospital, anti-rabies vaccine is also administered at the Urban Health Centre at Sector 16 and the Polyclinic in Sector 26.

Shaurya Gilhotra, Head, Bezuban, said they had set a target to sterilise 450-500 dogs every month.