The Haryana government faces a huge challenge after the Supreme Court ordered that all stray dogs in Delhi and parts of NCR be relocated to shelters within eight weeks. Gurgaon has about 50,000 stray dogs and Faridabad 30,447, according to 2024 data.
An Urban Local Bodies Department official said a plan is being prepared to follow the court’s order, but admitted it will be hard to arrange shelters for such a huge number of stray dogs.
On Monday, the Supreme Court had directed the Delhi government, civic bodies, and authorities in Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad to catch stray dogs and move them to shelters. The court said the situation caused by the menace is “grim” and “immediate steps need to be taken” to address it.
In 2024, the Haryana government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the state had 2.14 lakh dog bite cases in just 18 months between 2022 and 2023. Ambala reported the highest number with 49,514 cases. Other districts which had high numbers included Faridabad (12,939), Rohtak (25,467), Jhajjar (13,947), Panipat (22,331), and Jind (16,447). The figures show how urgent it is to tackle the stray dog problem with better urban planning and public health measures.
In Gurgaon, the authorities have found 14 common spots where people regularly feed stray dogs, while Faridabad has 162 such locations. Other districts like Yamunanagar and Sirsa also have many designated public feeding areas for stray dogs. At present, Gurgaon has only two dog-catching vans, and Panchkula has a kennel house with space for 1,000 dogs in Sukhdarshanpur village.
In March this year, Opposition members in the Haryana Assembly brought up the issue of stray animals. Senior Congress leader and Thanesar MLA Ashok Arora claimed that there were no vaccines available to treat people bitten by dogs or monkeys.
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Responding to the issue, Urban Local Bodies Minister Minister Vipul Goel said “There are legal hurdles in shifting stray dogs from one place to another, so they are only sterilised. Nearly 30,000 dogs have been sterilised over the past year-and-a-half. This campaign will be further intensified.”
After the Supreme Court’s strong stand on the issue, authorities are likely to step up efforts to create more shelter homes for stray dogs.
Animal welfare worker Umang Sheoran from Panchkula said the Supreme Court’s order is not practical. She explained that building shelters for all stray dogs would cost crores. She suggested only aggressive dogs should be taken for rehabilitation, treated and then released once they improve, instead of confining all strays.
Animal lover Umang Sheoran, who runs a shelter home in Billa village of Panchkula district, says the Supreme Court’s order is “not a feasible solution”.
“Shelter homes for all stray dogs need a budget of crores. Otherwise, all dogs should not be picked and relocated to the shelter homes,” she said.
“The dogs that are aggressive and where such symptoms are emerging that they can bite or attack someone— need rehab. When they show improvement and their aggression reduces, they can be released back into society. But confinement of all stray dogs is unfair,” she added.
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