Hyderabad: The city of Hyderabad, India, has 5.50 lakh stray dogs, according to government figures released on Wednesday, a day after CCTV footage of a 4-year-old kid being mauled to death by a pack of dogs went viral.
As the horrific visuals triggered public outrage, municipal authorities on Wednesday decided to take steps on war footing to check the menace of stray dogs.
Arvind Kumar, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's Special Chief Secretary for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, has ordered that the problem of stray dogs be dealt with urgently (GHMC).
He convened a meeting of GHMC zonal Commissioners and veterinary officers and ordered them to immediately begin developing a plan of action to combat the outbreak inside the boundaries of GHMC and other towns in the state.
Officials from the GHMC informed him that there are currently 5.50 lakh stray dogs in the GHMC region. They said that in 2011, their population was 8,50,000; however, due to sterilising efforts, that number has decreased.
The GHMC officers were given orders to quickly begin the ABC (Animal Birth Control) sterilising operations from Arvind Kumar.
The GHMC has ordered the local government to prevent garbage from being dumped on the streets by local hotels, restaurants, banquet halls, and poultry and mutton markets. Taking quick action to prevent this dumping of waste was mandated because of the potential rise in the number of stray canines in the city.
Students at both public and private schools in the city, he recommended, should be included in the awareness programmes. It was mandated that officials make brochures and billboards to raise public consciousness.
Slum Development Federations, Town Development Federations, and Resident Colony Welfare Associations were urged to assist local authorities in enforcing order in squalid areas around the city and its surrounding towns. The state's other towns will enlist the aid of self-help groups to implement similar control measures.
For the registration of pets in the city and its neighbouring municipalities, Arvind Kumar suggested the development of a separate smartphone app. Once registered, the appropriate owners will be issued identification cards. He said steps should be taken to file complaints through My GHMC App No. 040-21111111.
He recommended figuring out where the majority of reports are coming from so that measures might be done there right away. Authorities have been told to dispatch veterinary teams to the affected locations, where they can take the necessary steps to stop the spread, with particular focus on those places without convenient access to transportation.
It was reported on Sunday that a young boy, aged four, was killed by a pack of strays in the Bagh Amberpet neighbourhood of Hyderabad. Public outcry was sparked on Tuesday when CCTV footage of the tragic incident was released.
Pradeep, the youngster, passed away before his father could take him to a hospital.
The boy's father, Gangadhar, was working as a watchman at an auto service centre when the tragic event unfolded.
In less than a year, this is the second such occurrence to occur in Hyderabad. A young boy of two years old was killed by stray dogs in the Bada Bazar neighbourhood of Golconda in April 2022.—Inputs from Agencies