Srinagar, Apr 25: High Court on Monday directed the state government to file response to Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against dog menace in Srinagar within a day.
 Taking a serious note of laxity on the part of authorities in curbing the menace, the High Court’s division bench listed the case for Tuesday observing that it was a case of public interest.

THE PIL
 Fed up of government failure to check the dogs menace, on April 1, the civil society moved Court.
 The Writ Petition was filed in public interest to invite the attention of the High Court to “ghastly and appalling conditions prevalent in Srinagar concerning the issue of dog menace.”
 The writ filed by advocate AR Hanjura who is also the Trustee of VIVA Kashmir, an NGO prayed: “In our state fears and phobias of stray dogs haunts everybody especially the children. The fear is not misplaced given the data of 25000 bites in last 5years each bite costing Rs 2000 when treated or costs invaluable life if not treated in time.”
 The lawyer accused the state government of being “indifferent, unsympathetic and callous towards the woes of public in this regard.”

THE DEADLY MENACE
 Pertinently there are over one lakh and growing dogs on prowl in the City while around 10,000 humans were bitten by the canines last year alone.
 This year while scores of people have been bitten till date, at-least three persons including a 10-year old boy Omar Farooq of Shahr-e-Khaas died of the canine attacks.

‘LET HUMANS GO TO DOGS’
 While experts insist that the dog population needs to be brought down speedily, the National Conference led coalition is reluctant to eliminate any stray packs, not even rabid for that matter.
 The government has been so concerned towards the dogs, that just last month it ordered a probe into killing of some stray pack that too on “mere hearsay”.
 Even though there had been no “credible” report of any dog killing, an immediate probe was ordered.

ABC FACTOR
 The government opines that the rupees multi-crore Animal Birth Control (ABC) program, which is expected to take years to complete, is the only viable solution.
 But observers criticize the plan saying it would be a “money minting business” and by the time ten dogs will be sterilized, 20 more may take birth.
 Last year a study revealed that the dogs would outnumber Srinagarites in another five years if their population isn’t brought down. Still the government seemingly remained unmoved.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST