New Delhi: As delegates from all corners of the globe fly into the national capital for the G20 Summit being held over 9 and 10 September, animal lovers in Delhi are outraged by the municipal authorities’ alleged illegal operations of forcibly picking up stray dogs.
Unlike in the past — when coordinated efforts have been made to remove dogs off the streets in certain areas prior to Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations in the capital — animal activists have alleged that this time, strays were picked up from areas across the city.
Speaking to ThePrint Thursday, Gaurav Dar, a consultant at People for Animals, an association that tends to the needs of the city’s strays and other animals, said that this happened despite the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) scrapping its action plan to remove stray dogs from locations like Hauz khas, Green Park, Greater Kailash, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Mayur Vihar and Punjabi Bagh.
However, Dar noted, strays were also picked up from areas like Saket and Surajmal Vihar, which, he said, fall outside the New Delhi limits and have no connection to the G20 Summit.
On 3 August, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had issued an action plan to lift strays and transfer them to various sterilisation centres across the city until the G20 summit concludes on 10 September. A day later, the MCD updated this order, adding that the drive will be held from 4 to 7 September instead of its earlier plan of executing it between 4 and 30 August.
However, on 5 August, the civic body withdrew the order completely following protests. According to activists, the MCD went on to lift the strays on a war footing despite this.
“They [MCD] have picked up every dog, including those who are blind, old and lactating mothers, separated from their puppies, and kept them at various animal birth control centres,” he said. “Further, these dogs are being picked up in a ruthless manner, with nooses around their necks, and shoved into carrier vehicles.”
According to Dar, the dogs are being kept in sterilisation centres in the city’s Brijwasan, Ghazipur, Kotla, Masoodpur and Dwarka areas.
The worst part, Dar noted, was that no written orders from the MCD were made available. Meanwhile, those who feed strays regularly are being prevented from even visiting the centres where they have been kept, he added.
He alleged that the conditions at these centres, some of which Dar has visited, are below par due to a lack of sufficient watering bowls and ventilation, among other things. Moreover, the dogs were picked up without collars or being tagged, which would make it difficult to return them to the areas they were picked up from.
“These dogs are to be kept at the centres till the G20 Summit concludes. But keeping them together could result in the spread of (infectious) diseases,” said Dar.
Meanwhile, the civic body noted that dogs were only being picked up on an “urgent basis”. MCD’s Director for Press and Information, Amit Kumar said to ThePrint Thursday that all dogs that were picked up were tracked and will be released to the areas they were removed from.
Terming allegations by animal activists like Dar as “highly exaggerated”, Kumar added that all dogs were safe and comfortable with necessary medical help made available to them.
However, according to an MCD official who wished to not be named, the MCD’s action has been a “knee-jerk response”.
“The dogs are being picked up in big numbers because the sterilisation plans over the past three years have not worked out. It is a long-term process and immediate results are not going to reflect. Of course, since there was no other option right now, they have resorted to picking up the dogs and hiding them from public view,” said the official.
Holed up in suboptimal conditions?
During his conversation with ThePrint, Dar gave the example of a centre in Dwarka’s Sector-29, where a puppy was showing symptoms of distemper, a condition that is highly infectious among canines. Despite requests from feeders in the area to release the pup, Dar claimed that the doctor at the centre refused to comply, citing verbal orders from the MCD to not release dogs until the international summit comes to a close.
Among the centres is also Friendicoes, located in Jangpura. It a post on its Instagram page Wednesday, it had stated that the G20 meet has “caused a lot of chaos and confusion regarding stray dog pick-ups by Friendicoes” which has brought them a lot of flak.
The care centre noted that while they were not in favour of catching dogs, past experiences of refusing to hold dogs had resulted in dislocation of the canines, and therefore, it felt it was better to be “part of the solution and keep the dogs safe”.
“Contrary to what is being said, our dogs are not in hell holes,” the post stated. “The dogs are being provided the best of food and medical care. Some of the dogs have been found (to be) tick fever positive (after blood tests), skin problems and minor wounds for which they are being treated.”
ThePrint reached Geeta Seshamani, vice-president at Friendicoes via calls. This report will be updated if and when she responds.
Question of timing
The silence from senior MCD officials at the veterinary department is adding fuel to this fire.
Sanjay Mohapatra, founder of Noida-based organisation House of Stray Animals, is among those who believes that a majority of the dogs lifted by the MCD will be relocated to areas they are unfamiliar with. Mohapatra, plans to hold a meeting with the MCD officials in order to involve feeders to identify the dogs and ensure their safe return.
Mohapatra, whose organisation has been caring for strays for the past 16 years, has also termed the MCD’s action a “betrayal” in view of their earlier decision to withdraw the order to pick up the strays.
“Right now, they [MCD] have resorted to this large-scale and abrupt action because security restrictions are in place due to G20, and they are aware that our mobility is restricted. Had they lifted the dogs in August, there would have been widespread protests led by animal lovers like us,” he said to ThePrint.
Mohapatra also plans to approach the courts once the summit concludes in order to seek a lasting solution for the MCD’s “highhandedness”.
Need for stray dog census
The civic body’s tryst with the city’s strays has been a long-standing issue, with the most recent dog census having been conducted in 2016 by the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC); a total of 1.89 lakh stray dogs were counted in the census, it was reported.
While the above mentioned figure was limited to areas under the erstwhile SDMC, the last unified survey was conducted in 2009, when the number stood at 5.6 lakh.
While a fresh dog census is yet to be conducted, and is in the pipeline, the MCD official cited above noted that an overhaul of the system will be required. However, for Mohapatra, involving animal lovers is crucial to finding an amicable solution. He added that the civic body has neglected the importance of the feeders in this system.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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