SDMC to monitor dog sterilisations on real-time basis
NEW DELHI: Sterilisation of dogs performed under the ambit of South Delhi Municipal Corporation will be monitored by veterinary officials on a real-time basis, officials from the civic body said.
The decision comes two days after the Delhi High Court directed the civic agency to videograph the sterilisation process.
Currently, the civic agency outsources the work for sterilising dogs to seven NGOs, which leave a small incision on the ears of sterilised dogs in order to identify them.
However, the court questioned the corporation over the increasing population of stray dogs in Delhi even when the sterilisation procedure is reportedly being carried out a regular basis.
At present, the civic agency has 14 dog sterilisation centres run by seven NGOs and one veterinary doctor. “Though the NGOs have installed close circuit cameras at the centres to record the process, but on the direction of court we have decided to allow all the veterinary doctors access to the CCTV footage. They can watch the process on a real-time basis. This will make the entire system transparent and accountable,” said SDMC director RBS Tyagi.
Besides this, there is a plan to install GPS trackers on all dog vans under SDMC’s jurisdiction. “This will help us keep a track on the location of vehicles and accordingly question the staff,” Tyagi said.
However, animal rights activists said the canine population can only be controlled after stopping their migration. Rishi Dev, animal activist and urban planner, said, “We had even conducted a study on this matter at Dwarka in 2012 and concluded that no sterilisation programme will work until we promote domestication of dogs and stop their migration.”
An MCD official said public participation is a vital component in making any sterilisation programme successful. “The NGOs should inform the area RWAs or residents before picking up and after leaving the dogs in an area. This will minimise the chances of any foul play and will make residents aware about the initiatives taken by civic authority to control dog population in their area,” said an MCD official.
Officials said the South corporation will also be taking a series of measures to control the canine population such as floating fresh tenders for conducting new dog census by March end and opening more sterilisation centres at Dwarka . “We have already sterilised 58,000 out of 60,000 dogs targeted in 2017-18. In the next year, we plan to take this number up to 90,000,” an SDMC official said.