MARGAO
One area where the Margao Municipal Council had been found wanting in the discharge of its civic duties is the burning issue of stray
dogs plaguing the commercial capital.
Successive councils have only paid lip service to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme since the guns had fallen silent in the city after the High Court banned the killing of stray dogs around two decades ago.
In fact, the new set of elected councillors, who will make it to the civic body after the April 23 election, will have a task cut out for them “ how to address the burning stray dog issue.
Otherwise, consider this. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Margao Municipal Council and the NGO had ended on December 31, 2020. To date, however, the MMC is yet to ink a fresh MoU either with the existing NGO or with a new one, leaving the existing NGO to continue the ABC as a stop-gap arrangement.
If MMC officials are to be believed, the municipal administration has decided to leave the issue of signing a new MoU to the new council that will take over the reign of office after April 23.
The MoU is not the only issue the new council will have to address once it assumes office later this month or next month.
A host of issues plaguing the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme have been waiting for a solution, including timely payments to the NGO, the addition of cages and toning up of ABC infrastructure and logistics. All these need an early solution as the stray dog population is on the rise in the commercial capital.
The outgoing council has been responsible for hiking the monthly funds to the NGO to around Rs 70,000, but there’s hardly any change in the ground reality for the better to date.
Margao Municipal Council Chief Officer, Agnelo Fernandes, said the new council will have to take a call on signing the MoU after the election. While conceding that the existing MoU has lapsed last year, the Chief Officer said the issue will be resolved after the new council assumes office.
Though the issue of stray dogs needs urgent attention, it’s unclear how many candidates contesting the elections for the Margao civic body have incorporated the issue in their election manifesto.
Sources in the MMC informed that the council does not have its own shelter and there is an acute scarcity of space in the municipal jurisdiction. Officials pointed out that since residential quarters at the veterinary hospital at Sonsodo are vacant, this place could be ideal to handle dog-related activity.
“Since the quarters are with the District Collector South Goa, the MMC may have to move a proposal to the Collector and the Director AHVS, to lease out the quarter to the council,” an official added.
Sources said the council is also mandated to constitute the Monitoring Committee which is required as per Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001.
The committee constituted under rule 4 shall be responsible for planning and management of dog control programme in accordance with these rules, and to deal with matter relating to the catching, transportation, sheltering, sterilisation, vaccination, treatment and release of sterilized vaccinated or treated dogs.
The official further informed that the new council will have to take a call on the purchase of a new dog catching van given that the existing vehicles have become old and need replacement.
