Stray dog control programme goes awry in Bangalore city

Stray dog control programme goes awry in Bangalore city

Afshan Yasmeen

NGOs suspend ABC programme as BBMP has not paid them


Bangalore: Haven’t you been noticing the sudden influx of stray dogs in your area of late?

It looks like you have to watch out for that set of sharp fangs from sinking into your ankle.

But here is more bad news. The four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) — Krupa Loving Animals, Karuna, Animal Rights Fund (ARF) and Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) — which have been carrying out the animal birth control (ABC) programme, have stopped their work. This is because the BBMP has not paid them for four months. It has not renewed their work orders too.

According to the BBMP, there has been a rise in the number of stray dogs in the city since the programme began — from around 70,000 in 2000 to 1,83,758 in 2007.

While Krupa pulled out from the project in May as it wanted to concentrate on its helpline for animals in distress, Karuna and CUPA discontinued the programme from June citing lack of funds. The ARF has decided to stop work from September 1.

According to the NGOs, the BBMP owes Rs. 12 lakh to CUPA, Rs. 5 lakh to Karuna and Rs. 25 lakh to the ARF.

“We cannot continue the programme because we have not been paid for the past four months. The BBMP has not renewed our work orders. It has breached the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between us that clearly states that the BBMP should pay three months’ advance to the NGOs,” said Suparna Baksi Ganguly, CUPA vice-president.

Karuna president B.C. Ramakrishna said, “We are an NGO. We do not have the capacity to use all our funds only on the ABC programme. How can we continue when the work orders are not issued?”

According to the ARF’s Dilip Bafna, “The BBMP has to pay us an advance for three months. Forget about the advance, we are not even getting reimbursement for the amount that we have spent.”

Ms. Ganguli said, “Although we have sent official letters to Commissioner S. Subramanya there has been no response.

We are forced to relieve some of our staff specially hired for the ABC programme as we cannot afford to pay their salaries.”

BBMP Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry) H.S. Jaganath told The Hindu on Wednesday that the funds were not released because of some “technical problems” after several top officials were transferred from the BBMP.

He said sterilisation of stray dogs in Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli zones had been outsourced to the Ahmedabad-based Animal Health Foundation.

This organisation conducted a pilot project in the old areas and operated upon 5,020 strays using the “Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release” (CNVR) technique. From September 2007, the organisation has vaccinated 5,943 dogs in Mahadevpura and 4,331 dogs in Bommanahalli, he added.