As of now, SMC has been dilly-dallying the start of sterilization of units in Srinagar. Two such units have been planned, but there has not been any headway in this direction even as the issue of dog menace is aggravating. Interestingly, as per doctors who attend to the cases of dog bites in Srinagar, there has been a huge spike in such cases, while as per figures, 5469 bite cases have been reported to Anti-Rabies Clinic, SMHS Hospital Srinagar including over 4000 from Srinagar from April 2021 to March 2022.
If we talk of national numbers concerning the stray dog menace, India, with its estimated population of 35-40 million stray dogs, accounts for the highest number of rabies cases in the world with about 20,000 people (or around 36% of the 59,000 deaths worldwide) dying from it every year. The numbers are huge and need immediate attention from the Government which special focus on delivery by the concerned authorities at the state level because so far, States/UTs have miserably failed in sterilisation and dog bite incidents are at the peak.
As of now, there is a need for the Supreme Court to intervene to ascertain the actual population of stray dogs across the country. It needs to seek details from every State/ UT regarding the efforts being made to curb the menace and at the same time analyse the effectiveness of the measures taken. It is high time for the institutions, and authorities to wake up and employ modern and scientifically proven methods to control the population of stray dogs across the country with special focus on the States/ UTs which are witnessing a drastic increase in such population. If the States/UTs fail to make a change on the ground, then, there is a need for halting the spending on the sterilization of stray dogs because in India most of the population is unprivileged, without food—better spend the money for their welfare instead.
