Punjab govt to ramp up drive to sterilise street dogs

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab government has decided to ramp up the ongoing drive to sterilize street dogs in the state for controlling their population and checking the human-animal conflicts.

The local government department will engage veterinary doctors at the municipality level for this purchase to give further impetus to the animal birth control and anti-rabies (ABC/AR) programme in a humane manner. A separate campaign will also be launched soon to create public awareness and solicit their cooperation to not only check the stray dog menace but also control the cruelty against animals, especially dogs, according to an official spokesperson.

The spokesperson said these decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by chief secretary Vini Mahajan to review the progress of the measures being taken to control the menace of stray dogs and check cruelty against animals in the rural and urban areas of the state. The chief secretary asked the local government department to ensure that all the civic bodies engage only those animal welfare organisations/ NGOS having requisite permission from the Animal Welfare Board of India to carry out the ABC/ AR programme while adopting humane approach in the state.

Principal Secretary, local government, Ajoy Kumar Sinha, said the department had already constituted the monitoring and implementation committees at state as well as district levels for effective management of stray dogs.