the goan I network
MARGAO
It was 9.40 pm on Wednesday. A lone security personnel was seen manning the entrance of the Margao Municipal Council building as part of his night duty. Spotted around the security personnel were a couple of stray dogs at the entrance of the building.
These strays have made the municipal building their second home, indicating that the problem has now reached the doorsteps of the municipality. Stray dogs is one of the issues to which MMC has not been able to pay much attention. And the growing population of strays in the commercial capital and the failure of the municipality to address the burning issue, despite spending thousands of rupees every month to tackle the menace, is now showing.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabudesai was not available for comments on the issue. Many areas of the city, including Pajifond, Khareband, Comba, Housing Board and Borda have been witnessing a rising population of strays in recent times.
In fact, residents of the government quarters at Pajifond had been complaining of stray dogs destroying their bike seats and covers, leaving them with no option but to place blue-coloured water bottles in the parking lots.
At the recent meeting with the NGO roped in by the civic body to execute the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme in the commercial capital, city fathers sounded critical of the exercise. They were unanimous in their opinion that the population of stray dogs has not come down over the years despite the fact that the municipality had been spending huge amounts of money to tackle the menace.
In fact, while MMC had settled to pay a monthly amount of Rs 45,000 to the NGO to control the stray dog population, it is now learnt that the standing committee of the civic body has given the go-ahead to increase the amount to Rs 70,000 per month.
As per the Supreme Court ruling on stray dogs, the local self-government bodies, including the municipalities, are mandated to put a helpline in place. Questions, however, are being raised in the corridors of the civic body whether there’s a dedicated helpline in place till date in the municipality to facilitate aggrieved citizens to register their plaints on stray dogs.
