Mumbai: Madh Island buildings tackle stray dog menace

A stray dog on the building staircase

A mid-day report on October 24 (Gone to the dogs) about four upscale buildings in Madh Island battling a serious garbage problem has proved to be a call for action, with the residents planning to meet tomorrow (October 29) outside the administration office of Club Exotica, one of the four buildings in question.

Following a strike call by the housekeeping staff of the buildings, garbage had been piling up in the stairwells and the society premises. What compounded the problem stray dogs ripping open garbage bags and strewing the contents on the stairs and landings.

The poster sent to residents asking them to take action

A WhatsApp message under the tagline 'Raheja Exotica Stray Dog Menace - Call to Action' was sent to the residents troubled by the problem, asking them to report to the office for the meeting. The message also mentioned the date, time and venue of the meeting exhorting residents of eight buildings - Sorento, Capri, Amalfi, Sicily, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla and Andalucia - to unite in fighting the menace.

mid-day recently highlighted that the strike at the Raheja Exotica buildings was because of delayed payments to staff. Garbage was piling up in stairwells and staircases, and trash in the car parking and common areas of the buildings was becoming a huge problem.

Tub of water for stray dogs, tied to the building pipes by dog lovers

Central to that piece was that an inordinately large number of stray dogs in the colony were compounding the problem. Dog lovers nurture and encourage these canines to walk into the buildings. The dogs tear open the garbage bags and create a mess around the colony.

A resident said that the problem had aggravated due to dog lovers, who do not allow people to stop the canines from walking into the buildings and into elevators, too. The aggressive canines (about 70 of them roam in the area) terrorise senior citizens and children too.

Locals often claim they suffer from sleep deprivation because of their continual barking. The security guards are hesitant to take action because they fear the wrath of the dog lovers. This paper's report might have just sparked the first, united effort to tackle the canine problem dogging (pun intended) the plush residential enclave.

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