AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj slams corporations day after 3-year-old mauled by stray dogs in west Delhi
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said the BJP-led municipal corporations have failed, citing the incident where a three-year-old girl was mauled to death by a pack of dogs in west Delhi’s Moti on Friday. It is their responsibility to control the population of stray dogs.
People suffer from stray dogs menace and unprovoked attacks. This responsibility lies squarely with the institutions, but the work is not being done,” said Bharadwaj. “It has become a very serious concern that people have stopped sending their children to play in the colony parks,” he added.
Bhardwaj said that according to the data of the corporation’s hospitals, since 2017, 225 people have been bitten by stray dogs every day. “Hospitals have stopped stocking anti-rabies drugs,” he alleged. He said that the corporation conducted a survey in 2009 and found that there were 5.6 lakh stray dogs. After that no survey was conducted across the state.
The MLA said that the corporation had paid Rs 750-1,100 to private NGOs to sterilize the dogs and alleged that this was done only on paper. “Actually no sterilization takes place on the ground. This is proven by the reckless increase in the number of dogs in each colony,” he said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapur said the accident in Moti Nagar is very sad but the political statement made by Bharadwaj is sad. He also said that the three corporations spent Rs 3 crore annually on dog sterilization.
Kapur said that under the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Act, 2001, translocation of stray dogs is prohibited. “As far as dog bites are concerned, it is a serious problem and its early solution is important. The Delhi government should help by filing a public interest litigation to remove stray dogs from residential areas in view of several court orders and laws,” he added.
