Lakhs spent, no respite in sight from stray dog menace in Patiala

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Patiala, May 3

Residents of Patiala are left scratching their heads wondering when the city will be rendered free from stray dog menace even as the Municipal Corporation has spent over Rs 25 lakh on the process in one year and sterilised only 3,062 dogs.

As per the MC’s survey conducted in 2019, there were around 288 stray dogs in each of the city’s 60 wards. Thereafter, the MC issued tenders for the sterilisation of dogs. It sterilised 3,062 dogs and spent Rs 25.72 lakh on the process. Officials said they would continue the sterilisation drive to ensure that the menace was put to an end. Officials pointed out that the MC had sterilised 1,342 female and 1,720 male dogs at the cost of Rs 840 per dog, which included their food, sterilisation, shelter and other charges.

Meanwhile, residents questioned the pace of the sterilisation process and said, “The Municipal Corporation has sterilised only 3,062 dogs in a year which comes down to average eight dogs per day. This is a slow pace given the number of dogs present in the city. Moreover, at the time of the corporation’s survey, there were around 17,000 dogs in the city. Given their rapid breeding, the corporation needed to pace its sterilisation but it remained stuck on an average of eight dogs per day.”

Residents also questioned the corporation’s process of sterilising all male and female dogs. “They should rather focus on sterilising the female dogs only. This method brings down the number of target stray animals to nearly half and can help achieve target results,” residents said.

Municipal Commissioner Keshav Hingonia said, “Currently, the sterilisation process in the city is on a halt as the previous tender came to an end. We will issue a new tender in which the pace of sterilisation will be paced-up.”