The commercial city has seen an unusual rise in strays inthe last couple of years. The rise in stray dog menace has been giving thecitizens of Margao and Fatorda sleepless nights.
The strays besides snapping at innocent pedestrians, barkthroughout the night, destroy vehicle seat covers and mess up garbage acrossMargao and Fatorda.
“When you go for morning walk these dogs hound commuters.They attack small school going children. Some lanes in Comba and Borda havemore than 30 stray dogs that fight and bark throughout the night disturbing oursleep,” said Fatorda resident Chandan Phadke.
Independent MLA, Vijai Sardessai had raised the issue of dogmenace in the State in the Assembly. Vijai believes that government has notbeen serious on curbing stray dog menace despite High Court taking cognizanceof the matter and asking the government to work in sync with civic and otherlocal bodies to reduce cases of dog bites by strays.
“Following a Supreme Court directive on strays, the Stategovernment just follows a procedure to write to the Directorate ofMunicipalities and Directorate of Panchayats to look into the matter, which isno solution to curb the stray dog menace,” Sardessai said.
Former Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat asserted that he hadprovided certain funding to the Margao municipality to tackle stray dog menace.“The problem has to be tackled by the municipality. I had provided funds tothem. They have to ensure safety of the residents from the strays,” Kamat said.
South Goa Welfare Trust for Animals, an NGO runs he dogshelter at Sonsoddo, Margao. But the NGO blames the city fathers for their lackof interest the tackle the stray dog issue.
Trust member of SGWTA lamented that the dog shelter had only20 cages to house the strays, as against 200 in Panjim or 150 in Vasco. The 20 cages were meant to address the straydog menace in the 20 wards of the Margao Municipality.
The president of the NGO, Sandra Fernandes lamented the lackof enthusiasm of the councillors in visiting the dog shelter.
SGWTA gets a meagre Rs 20,000 per month from the MargaoMunicipality. The NGO is expected to utilize the amount for the salary of thedriver, dog catcher, medicines and food for the dogs. Payment of Rs 2,500 aslease for the land that houses the dog shelter has to also be managed from thesame amount.
Sardessai wants a special budgetary allocation to be made tocontrol the stray dog problem faced by Goa.
