Get ready for some more stray dogs

Get ready for some more stray dogs
By: Chetan R
Date: 2008-09-23

Bangalore:

NGOs working to check the stray dog menace have decided to stop work unless BBMP clears all their dues amounting to Rs 10 lakh.

NGOs working with Brahut Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme say they have come to this decision after frequent payment delays, putting them in financial trouble.

"We can't work with bills unpaid," said an official with an NGO, "We were not paid a bill of about Rs 10,00,000 for more than three months and it creates a lot of problems."

NGOs working with BBMP to sterilise and inoculate stray dogs include CUPA, Karuna and Animal Rights fund.

Delay

Sources say, Animal Rights Fund was made to wait for three months to get their two bills cleared Rs 2,61,000 under the old package and Rs 11,00,000 under the Rajarajeshwarinagar package.

Other NGOs have the same complaint. "Our previous bills have not yet cleared," said an official. "But they have said it will be cleared in a day or two." She refused to disclose how much was due.

Apart from this, BBMP has angered NGOs by allegedly violating the MoU signed with them. Under the ABC programme, BBMP pays Rs 400 for male and Rs 420 for female dogs' sterilisation and inoculation. A part of the payment has to be made in advance but this is not being followed, allege NGOs.

"We are NGOs, not contractors," said Vinod, an NGO official. "We are registered and work under the norms of the Animal Welfare Board of India. As we don't have any intention of making profits, we have to be paid as work progress."

But officials deny any delay. "Bills are being cleared in time," said Dr Jagannath, Deputy Director. "We have taken measures to clear pending bills and that will be done in the next two-three days"

Blame who?

Former public representatives blame the state government for the mess. They feel things would have been different if the government had conducted BBMP elections. They also blame NGOs for non-performance and officials for adopting unscientific methods to pay them.

"If an elected body was present we would have scrutinised the NGOs' performance and ensured payment in time," said P R Ramesh, former mayor.

"There is no proper functional and financial auditing on this. Officials pay blindly seeing the number or delay it as per their whims and fancy. Nobody oversees it. And the arising confusion hampers the programme."

The statistics

4 NGOs' performance in 8 zones between April and July 2008:

Total dogs caught: 2385
No of dogs sterilised: 20,887
With ABC: 20,890
Without ABC: 14,930