No jokes please, get serious

The response to stray dog menace in Srinagar is likely to commence with a census of the canines shortly. Concerned citizens have termed it a cruel joke. Earlier, the Srinagar Municipality issued an advisory on dog bites. The civic body perhaps did not know that the people exercise extreme caution to save themselves from the deadly canines, but without results. The solution, therefore, does not lie in issuing advisories or holding a census of the dogs. Something tangible has to be done now. Nobody can deny the fact that the stray dogs pose a serious threat to human life and the authorities have to respond accordingly. The gullible people cannot be put to danger to satisfy the ego of an animal rights activist from a distant land. There was a time when the Municipality would administer poison to the dogs to keep their population under control. A decade ago, poison worth lakhs of rupees was procured but it expired in the stores of the corporation as a letter from the animal rights activist  scared the  officials. The aggrieved people finally sought judicial intervention. Taking cognizance of a petition on alarming increase in the population of stray dogs, the High Court on 28th April, 2011 directed the state government to provide funds for construction of dog ponds. The Municipal authorities were further directed to complete the task within four weeks. The court also directed the authorities concerned to start sterilization programme in phased manner after the canines were shifted to these ponds. But eight years on, nothing has moved and the dog population continues to grow unabated. The deadly canines rule the roost in the Valley during the day and at night. Though the municipal authorities claim of having brought the situation under control but the ground realities suggest that the threat from stray dogs is as severe as it was in May 2012 when the government first started sterilisation of stray dogs. The action taken remains confined to transporting the dogs from one locality to another. There is no scope for cracking jokes in the name of census. Please get serious. Human life is at stake.