PANAJI
The government came in for severe censure in the Goa legislative assembly with legislators alleging inadequate action and response in several instances of stray dog attacks on humans, including the one in Curti on Thursday where a five-year-old boy was mauled outside his play school.
Several legislators cutting across party lines demanded that the State government come up with a ‘stray dog policy’ to tackle the growing menace.
Fisheries Minister, Nilkanth Halarnkar, who also holds the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services (DAHBS) portfolio, however, responded by saying that it was the mandate of local bodies (municipalities and panchayats) and that the State government does provide these local bodies grants-in-aid for sterilisation and vaccination of the canines.
The issue dominated the discussion on the demands for grants related to the DAHVS with several legislators expressing concern over increasing incidents of stray dogs attacking people.
Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao demanded a policy on stray dogs citing the increasing cases of dog bites in the State as revealed by statistics provided by the Central government.
Alemao said that in the last three years the annual tally of dog bite cases in Goa had doubled from 8,000-plus in 2022 to over 17,000 in 2024.“It only shows that the action and response of the government to the stray dog menace in the State is woeful,” Alemao said.
Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas demanded that the department set up a ‘permanent sterilization centre’ for each taluka which alone can ensure that the stray dog population is kept in check.
Viegas said, his Benaulim constituency had witnessed quite a few instances of stray dogs attacking people and tourists especially on the beaches and appreciated the government for backing his sterilization campaign in the entire Cavelossim-Orlim-Carmona-Varca-Benaulim beach belt of his constituency.
“Over 500 dogs were sterilised and vaccinated during the campaign,” Viegas said, but added that unless permanent sterilisation centres are set up, at least one in each taluka, no effort to control stray dog population can be effective or successful.
Several MLAs from the ruling side too raised concern over the stray dog menace, including Michael Lobo, Jit Arolkar, Dr Chandrakant Shetye, Daji Salkar, Jennifer Monserrate and Kedar Naik.
