Charanjit Singh Teja
Amritsar, January 7
The Municipal Corporation (MC) resumed dog sterilisation in the city on Friday after entering into a new contract with a private firm. Under the new contract, 20,000 dogs will be sterilised.
The MC had stopped the project due to non-renewal of a contract with a private firm. On the first day, 24 dogs were caught and sterilised. The dogs have been kept at the Animal Birth Control Centre, Chheharta.
Dr Ankit, in-charge of the company with which the contract has been signed, said after sterilisation, dogs would be kept under supervision for three days and would be released after an examination.
He said the company would catch dogs every day. An operation would be performed on a dog on the next day of being caught. Under the drive, 17 stray dogs were caught by the team from Putlighar, Krishna Square and Airport Road on Saturday. These dogs will be operated on Sunday.
Kiran Kumar, Municipal Health Officer, said after sterilisation, the dogs would be released in the same locality from where they were caught as dogs are territorial animals. The health officials claimed that the MC would get 1,000 dogs sterilised within one and a half months.
The project was hanging fire for the past six months due to non-renewal of the contract. Earlier, the MC had sterilised 7,000 dogs in two years. As per an estimate, there are over 50,000 dogs in the city and residents often complaint about dog bite cases. With the start of the project, the residents will be benefitted.
