Even as Delhi government has welcomed Supreme Court order on stray dogs in NCR for more than just one reason, its instant execution remains a tough and challenging job. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has hinted at formulation pro active policy, the concerned ministry as also MCD has said it requires huge infra, funds and funds for executing the order in its spirit.
Supreme Court’s passed this order to the Delhi government and the civic agencies in Delhi to catch all stray dogs and relocate them to shelters. Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will do its best to “ensure the safety of the public while also providing safe, clean, and humane shelter facilities for stray animals”. “We will see to it that all necessary steps are taken in a timely and responsible manner,” he said.
MCD’s Standing Committee chairperson Satya Sharma acknowledged “significant challenges” that the civic body is likely to encounter while implementing the apex court’s directions to relocate at least 5,000 stray dogs in the first six to eight weeks. An estimated 10 lakh dogs are said to be the number in entire Delhi-NCR which is quite huge for any government to address without a proper policy and guideline.
“The MCD currently lacks adequate infrastructure, funds or manpower for an exercise of this scale. But we will address all these issues in the next Standing Committee meeting,” she said, adding, “Our focus would be to first target the aggressive and ill dogs.”
She said the municipality will soon launch a dedicated helpline for residents to report stray dogs.“We will begin [the implementation of the SC order by identifying land, setting up a team of doctors, and arranging funds,” she added.The MCD currently does not have a shelter for stray dogs, said an official. He added that the corporation runs 20 sterilisation centres. However, only 13 are currently functional, while the rest are inoperative due to ongoing repair works, lack of funds and shortfall of employees.
While many have welcomed the apex court's decision, pointing to the growing incidence of dog bites and attacks on children by street dogs, animal lovers feel that picking up strays and housing them in shelters, which do not even exist as yet, is tantamount to passing a death sentence on them. From Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi to neighbourhood animal rights activists who feed and care for strays, everyone is of the view that the court has acted thoughtlessly and without due regard to their concerns for the welfare of these voiceless animals.
The fact that this ruling overturns the existing Animal Birth Control Rules, which state that strays should be sterilised and released back on the streets, has also incensed animal lovers. They insist that street dogs are community animals and should be allowed to remain in the neighbourhoods to which they are accustomed, and that effective sterilisation is the best way to reduce the population of street dogs over time.
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