Establish rehabilitation centres for street dogs outside city: Telangana High Court
Court instructs the GHMC to establish a dedicated animal birth control helpline to respond to complaints of dog attacks or movement of street dogs
Stressing that the authorities should focus on what can be done to check instances of street dog attacks on people, the Telangana High Court on Friday instructed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to explore the possibilities of setting up rehabilitation centres for street dogs outside the municipal limits of Hyderabad city.
The High Court directed the GHMC to file an affidavit explaining the status of enforcing statutory obligations under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules. The civic body should also apprise the HC of the progress of the action to curtail dog attacks, initiated as per a report presented by it on July 30.
The orders were passed by a Bench of Chief Justice (CJ) Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao on two Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions pertaining to street dog attacks on children and adults in the city and other parts of the State. The Bench instructed the GHMC to establish a dedicated animal birth control helpline to respond to complaints of dog attacks or movement of street dogs.
Referring to a news report on street dogs mauling an elderly woman to death in Rajanna Siricilla district on Thursday, the Chief Justice observed: “It is [a] very sad state of affairs, as we could not create an environment where infants and [the] elderly are safe”.
While hearing the submissions made by Advocate-General A. Sudarshan Reddy on the steps taken by the civic authorities in controlling street dog attacks, the CJ remarked that government should come up with solutions. Instead of explaining the difficulties in checking the menace, the officials should focus on what can be done. The problem should be tackled with “positive” approach rather than merely focussing on the rules, he said.
Referring to the ABC Rules, the Bench made it clear that dogs captured for sterilisation or immunisation should be released in the same area. If, however, a street dog is captured for rehabilitation, it need not be released in the same area, the Bench noted. Earlier, the A-G explained that the GHMC had directed its Chief City Planner to ensure that every establishment having 50 or more employees has a creche.
The GHMC had created an online link to register dog feeders, who had to ensure that all street dogs were sterilised and vaccinated on time. The civic body was also developing a mobile phone application to monitor real-time data on catching street dogs; pet dog registrations; details of feeding spots and dog feeders; and numbers of sterilisation and vaccinations of dogs.
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