26th September, 2010

 

To

 

Shri K.S. Mehra IAS

Commissioner of the M.C.D.

Town Hall

Delhi

 

Copies to :

 

Shri Rakesh Mehta IAS

Chief Secretary, Delhi

 

And

 

Smt. Sheila Dixit

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi
 
And
 
Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. R.M. Kharb, AVSM
Chairperson of the Animal Welfare Board of India

 

 

SUBJECT : DOGS DISPLACED FROM DELHI, DUMPED AT, AND REAPPEARING AT NOIDA AND OTHER OUTSKIRTS

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

I am a resident of Sector 15-A, one of the premium sectors of Noida, for the last 20 years. Location-wise, it is very close to Delhi, since it is very close to the entrance to Noida.

 

I am an Advocate by profession, and deeply interested in animal welfare, as are some neighbors of mine, including senior retired bureaucrats.  Together, we had managed to achieve 100% sterilization and vaccination of the community dogs within our Sector. We have also got the dogs in adjoining areas, such as the road outside the Sector, the green belt and park, etc. sterilized and vaccinated.  We get these dogs fed and tended to, and can claim that we know and recognize the dogs.

 

In the last approximately 15 days however, 7 to 8 completely new and rather traumatized dogs have surfaced in the Sector.  At least one security guard posted at one of the gates to the Sector claims he’d seen an ‘official looking’ vehicle dump the dogs in the vicinity. 

 

Nevertheless, I was initially of the view that the displacement could be the result of the incessant rain in the past few days, and construction activity all around. However, I am now tending to veer around to the wide-spread belief that MCD / NDMC vehicles are indeed displacing dogs – in a desperate bid perhaps, to look more “beautiful” than we actually are.  Reports of missing dogs, and new and strange dogs appearing in the territories on the outskirts of Delhi, abound of late ; and many persons are willing to vouch that MCD vehicles are picking up even sterilized dogs, and speeding them away to undisclosed destinations.

 

Sir, kindly advise your cadres, that for a few days of Commonwealth Games and trying to pretend that we are that which we are not, it is criminal to be jeopardizing and putting into quandary, Delhi’s animal birth control and rabies control endeavor.  Additionally, they are inconveniencing the residents of the areas where the poor hapless animals are being  dumped. Worst of all, they are subjecting the animals to mindless, senseless cruelty, traumatizing them, and probably rendering them hostile to humans eventually. In fact, it is precisely as a result of this sort of unintelligent and short-sighted conduct that dog bites and other dog related ‘nuisance’ occurs.

 

The animal rights movement in Delhi has grown hugely, and we are all aware that the law mandates that municipalities that wish to control street dog population can only resort to the area wise birth control envisaged by the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, enacted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. I think I speak for many when I say that we shall stand up for the rights of the animals whose greatest fault seems to lie in that they exist. 
 
Displacement of dogs, apart from being utterly cruel,  is also seriously counter-productive. Please therefore ensure, Sir, that the law of the land is not violated brazenly, and that better sense prevails.
 
Thanking you in anticipation,

 

Anjali Sharma

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.