THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
The Goa Animal Federation (GAF) has stated that the State government’s inadequate and delayed funding for stray dogs sterilisation will lead to an unchecked increase in the population of stray dogs in the State.
The GAF is a registered NGO in Goa whose founding members include WVS, WAGS, PAWS and Alpha Angels. Together, these four NGOs perform over 90% of estimated 18,000 community dog sterilisations in Goa.
“The government, through Animal Husbandry department, has a Grant-In-Aid (GIA) scheme that provides inadequate and delayed funding of Rs 1,800/sterilised dog to NGOs that conduct sterilisation surgeries on community dogs to control their population. This scheme must be amended for proper and effective implementation of recent Supreme Court order for community dogs’ sterilisation programme,” stated GAF President K D Row in a press release.
He noted shortcomings of GIA scheme due to which the scheme is not being utilised by the NGOs.
Inadequate amount
“The AHVS department provides Rs 1,800/sterilised dog to NGOs that conduct sterilisation surgeries on community dogs to control their population in line with Animal Birth Control Rules. This amount is grossly inadequate as average cost of sterilisation per dog exceeds Rs 3,500 after factoring in all costs such as veterinary and support staff wages, prices of medicines, fuel cost, food and stay cost, etc.,” said Row.
Restrictive clause
While providing only 50% of required funds for sterilisation, Row said the GIA scheme restricts NGOs to raise money for sterilisation from any other source if they avail GIA scheme. “Such impractical condition results in NGOs not availing GIA at all,” he said.
Delayed disbursement
The GAF president stated that the GIA, which is supposed to be provided in advance, is provided 18-24 months after sterilisation surgeries are performed by NGOs.
“For example, for sterilisation performed from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, one NGO was reimbursed in January 2026, full 21 months after it started FY 24-25 sterilisation. Similarly, 15-months after it started FY 25-26 sterilisations (from April 1, 2025 onwards), the NGO is still awaiting reimbursement under GIA scheme,” said Row.
GAF Vice-President Prakash Kamat mentioned that at an average cost of Rs 3,500/sterilisation, GAF member NGOs incurred a cumulative expenditure of Rs 5.25 crore in sterilising 15,000 community dogs in 2025-2026.
“However, barring one NGO that is availing GIA scheme through AHVS department for Rs 70 lakh, all other NGOs raised over 85% of funds or Rs 4.5 crore through private donations. This is unsustainable for NGOs and will lead to sharp increase in population of community dogs in Goa, if not addressed immediately by the Government,”
GAF recommendation
According to Row, the State government needs to prioritise community dogs’ sterilisation by providing adequate and timely funding to NGOs.
“We request that AHVS immediately amends GIA scheme to either increase the amount to Rs 3,500/dog for sterilisation, or remove the restrictive clause that prohibits NGOs to raise funds from other sources for sterilisation while availing GIA scheme,” he said.
“Also, GIA must be released in advance and not up to 2 years after such sterilisations are performed.”
