MARGAO
It is almost a year now since the Margao Municipal Council inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an animal welfare NGO to take the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme forward in a bid to control the rising stray dog population.
It’s another matter that then Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar inked the MoU with the NGO last year without complying with the codal formalities by not inviting the Expression of Interest (EoI). Leave alone the MoU, there seems to be no turnaround in the ABC programme to date, with the NGO struggling to stay afloat due to the lack of funds promised by the Civic body.
When 'The Goan' contacted Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz for an update on the status of the ABC programme and the MoU, he stated that he would look into the matter with his subordinates and ensure that the programme's implementation would be monitored closely.
A visit to the dog shelter housed at Sonsodo shows a grim picture of the ground reality. Manned by the animal welfare NGO, the dog shelter is saturated with injured and abandoned dogs housed in cages. Due to a lack of available dog catchers, the NGO has been unable to catch stray dogs from the city. Instead, people have been leaving injured and stray dogs at the shelter for care.
Sandra Fernandes, an animal lover involved with the NGO, explained that the organisation cannot afford to hire dog catchers because the Margao municipality has not cleared bills for the last several months. “It’s now a couple of months since our dog catchers left the job because we could not pay them their wages. We had submitted our bills to the MMC until December 2024, but the bills remain unpaid,” she said.
She further expressed frustration over the lack of funding from the municipal body. “What are we supposed to do when the promised funds from the Margao Civic body are not forthcoming? When bills are pending and awaiting clearance for the last several months, how are we supposed to arrange funds to foot the wage bill?”
The MoU between the Margao municipality and the NGO originally expired on 31 December 2020. A new MoU was signed by the MMC with the NGO only in April-May 2024, but without inviting the Expression of Interest, even though the municipal lawyers had raised questions about whether the MoU was being inked in tune with the rules and regulations.
NGO bills awaiting certification
Inquiries by 'The Goan' revealed that the civic officials are yet to certify the bills submitted by the NGO for clearance. No official, however, could explain the delay in certifying and clearing the bills. “Leave alone the bills submitted over the last several months, the MMC should at least clear the bills submitted by the NGO post-signing of the MoU last year,” a source said.
That the ABC programme has been derailed is evident by the fact that a rickshaw vehicle, which was converted into a dog-catching van last year, is lying stranded at the Sonsodo waste dumping yard.
“With no dog catchers and a van to transport the dogs from the city to the dog shelter at Sonsodo, the Margao council’s ABC programme has indeed hit a big block. It is a sheer irony that the ABC programme has not been brought back on track even though the city is witnessing a rising population of strays,” remarked an animal lover.
