With a view to tackle the menace of stray dogs in the State, Haryana Government has started sterilisation and vaccination programme in various districts.
Under the programme, anti-rabies vaccination has been administered to 1,71,764 dogs in districts Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Jind and Sirsa up to October 2016. Besides, 39,033 dogs were sterlised in Hisar division during the same period.
A meeting of State-level monitoring-cum-coordination committee was held under Chief Secretary, DS Dhesi on Friday to review progress under the Animal Component of National Rabies Control Programme. This programme is being implemented in the state by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry through the Animal Welfare Board of India.
During the meeting, it was informed that in the initial stage, the sterilisation and vaccination programme had been launched in Hisar division. An agreement was signed with non-governmental organisation Humane Society International (India) for this purpose. The agreement is valid till March 31, 2017.
The budget provision of `30 crore had been made for implementation of the National Rabies Control Programme in the state. Discussion was also held on various aspects related to implementation of the programme in the State.
As per a survey, the total number of dogs in Haryana is over 25.36 lakh, including both street dogs and owned dogs. The number of street dogs is roughly 1,878,203 and that of confined dogs is 658,226. Accordingly, there are about 10 dogs per 100 people of Haryana which is much higher than other parts of India where there are three to four dogs per 100 people.
According to the survey of Humane Society International (HIS) (India), there are about 61,300 stray dogs in Gurgaon city and owned dogs are 17,520. Total street dogs in Gurgaon division are estimated to be 5.47 lakh and in Gurgaon district, these are estimated to be 1.24 lakh. To deal with the menace of stray dogs in Gurgaon division, Haryana Government has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NGO Freindicos Seca-India for providing it the required logistics support.
Under the MoU, the components of Animal Birth Control (ABC) and Mass Dog Vaccination (MDV) are conducted scientifically by FSECA-India. The requisite logistics support is provided by the Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon, in the urban areas, and by the gram panchyat concerned in the rural areas.