Srinagar, May 1: Insisting that preference be given to safeguard of human lives over dogs, state’s chief spokesman Khawaja Farooq RenzuShah Tuesday broke his silence over the canine menace saying the administration should utilize all “legally effective weapons to reduce the dog population, which has really gone alarming in this City.”

RENZUSHAH OPINION
 RenzuShah while speaking at a "SMC public Durbar" chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand in the City, said: “I had years back(as then SMC Commissioner)  apprehended  that the dog menace would  be  big fear factor. And same has come true.”
 “All legal weapons need to be utilized to reduce the dog population because preference has to be the safeguard of human life, which is for all reasons of paramount and utmost importance across the globe,” RenzuShah, who is the Director Information, said.
 “In places like US the dog population is mere one percent of human population and that one percent too happens to be of very refined dogs as they hardly attack humans,” he quipped.
 However, in the same breath, he added that the situation in Srinagar was altogether different and equally drastic.
 “Here dogs amount to around twenty percent of the population, which is really alarming, going beyond the control,” he added.
 Though the dog menace prevailed even when RenzuShah was SMC Commissioner some four years back, he said: “That time I concentrated more on the polythene menace and brought it to zero level through the co-operation of people.”
 His anti-polythene stand fetched him the title of “Eco-Friendly Renzu”. But to tackle the dog menace, RenzuShah somehow couldn’t make a breakthrough as the canine population continued to grow.

THE PIL SUGGESTION
Prominent journalist, Muhammad Salim Pandit suggested that the state government should file a litigation before the Supreme Court seeking an end to this growing dog menace.
 “Instead of approaching the High Court, Government should move Supreme Court,” Pandit said.

DR QASBA'S MANTRA
 The SMC Commissioner, Dr Qasba while addressing the Durbar attended by people from various walks of life said, the corporation has started a two pronged strategy to curb the menace.
 “We are starting sterilization of dogs from Saturday at the specialized facility we constructed and will make it a success,” he said.
 Besides, he said sanitation was being improved and people being asked to avoid littering so that dogs migrate looking for food.

NISHAT HAILS EFFORTS
 Some of the invitees who were from Nishat area while talking to Greater Kashmir said the mantra of throwing no waste on the roads had started reaping benefits in the plush area in the heels of picturesque Zaberwan hills.
 “There’s a visible reduction in the number of dogs as they have finally migrated looking for food,” the residents said.
 They, however, cautioned the government against the “non-local black sheep living in the area who have morphed some pictures and videos to show that dogs are being ill treated in Srinagar.”
 “Basically such people want to get celebrity factor out of dog controversy. Moreover they look ahead to bag projects worth millions for construction of dog pounds,” they maintained.

BOTTOMLINE
 Though a lot was discussed over the issue, a million dollar question posed last year by the then Chief Justice Ibraheem Kalifullah left everyone including the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand curious: Will a dog stop biting after sterilization?

Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 May 2012 00:00:00 IST