Rs 2,000 to sterilise a dog

Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation has signed a contract worth Rs 30 lakh to sterilise 1,500 u00a0dogs in the area within a year

Whoever contended that dog is man's best friend, would be disputed by the residents of this constituency.
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If reports are to be believed, residents of Ulhasnagar are being plagued by the menace of street dogs, the number of which has suddenly shot up.

Rising to the occasion, the municipality is doing its bit to keep the streets dog-free. At the cost of Rs 2,000 per dog, it has decided to sterilise the stray dogs.


The UMC says that the 10,000-strong canine population in Ulhasnagar has been a source of nuisance for the residents

In fact, the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) has allotted a whopping sum of Rs 30 lakh per annum for the purpose of sterilising nearly 1,500 canine denizens in the area.

The UMC says that the 10,000 strong canine population in Ulhasnagar has been causing great discomfiture among the residents. Rashmi Rajwani, a resident, said, "We are thankful to Mayor Rajshree Chaudhary for taking this step; these dogs bark ceaselessly, and often scare our children."

In order to control the population of stray dogs in the area, the UMC has signed a contract with Animal Welfare Society, an NGO that sterilises dogs for BMC and KDMC.

The sterilisation drive is already under way, under the aegis of Chaudhary: on April 8, 13 stray dogs were captured in the Vithalwadi area and subsequently sterilised.

Also present at the event were Sangeeta Dhagude, the Health Department's deputy commissioner, Dr Gopal Jinde, medical health officer, and his assistant Prakash Tare.

Shiv Sena leader Dhananjay Borade also oversaw the sterilisation of 12 street dogs in his ward.

Chaudhary said, "The number of street dogs has been increasing at an alarming rate; not only do they create a nuisance for residents but also spread diseases."

He added, "To address the situation, we decided to initiate a dog sterilisation campaign. A contract has been signed with Dr Nirmal Patil of Animal Welfare Society, Mumbai.
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Charging a sum of Rs 2,000 for each dog, Dr Patil has promised to sterilise 500 dogs at the outset. Eventually 1,000 more dogs will be sterilised, at the same rate."

Voices of dissent, however, are being heard. The opposition has raised its voice against the costly operation; it has also protested against the cruelty that the dogs are being subject to.

Did you know?
Sterilising one female dog can prevent 67,000 births in six years, and sterilising one female cat can prevent 4,20,000 births in seven years.

Going to the dogs?
In 2007, the BMC started a similar campaign to eradicate the menace of stray dogs. The dog sterilisation programme began after the High Court passed an order to stop mass killing of strays by municipal authorities.u00a0 By late 2010, the BMC had already spent Rs 5,26,32,717 for the sterilisation of dogs.