Haryana Government has launched an ambitious programme to become the first State in the country to be rabies free.The Haryana Government would implement National Rabies Control Programme (NRCP). To begin with, the programme would be launched from Gurgaon, said chairman of Animal Welfare Board of India Maj Gen (Dr) RM Kharab (Retd) on Thursday.A UK based NGO namely Worldwide Veterinary Services (WVS) and Humane Society International (HIS) (India) have been selected by the Government of India for implementation of Animal Component of the NRCP under five year plan.
The total number of dogs in the State 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.As per the survey of HIS, 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.
During a meeting of chairman of Animal Welfare Board of India with Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Tl Satyaprakash on Thursday, the issue of vaccination of dogs and how to curtail the number of stray dogs in Gurgaon was discussed.Maj Gen Kharab said that the animal component of the NRCP will be implemented as a pilot study only in Haryana.
He said that mass sterilization of street dogs is extremely important along with Mass Anti-Rabies immunisation as dogs are prolific breeders and unless their population is also controlled through a humane sterilisation programme, a new crop of pups will be added twice a year which would adversely affect the success of rabies control program if carried out in isolation with mass anti rabies immunization only.As per WHO estimates 17,000 to 20,000 people die from Rabies every year in India.
The animal component of NRCP in Haryana is proposed to be started from Hisar and Gurgaon divisions. The HIS (India) would start the program from Hisar while WVS will start the program in Gurgaon division. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initially identified a sum of Rs 30 crore for implementation of animal component in Haryana for mass vaccination and sterilization.A sum of `100 will be paid for catching, marking and anti rabies vaccination and `700 for surgical sterilisation of each dog (both male and female).
For successful implementation of this programme, the Department of Animal Husbandry is required to provide infrastructure help of their veterinary hospitals for establishing street dog sterilisation centers and assistance of paravets and 10 vehicles suitable as mobile operation theatres, added Maj Gen Kharab.