After failing to convince the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to chase away stray pigs from his ward, the Councilor of ward 21 in the city has resorted to shaming the RMC for its inefficiency in a unique way. In what appears to be a modernised version of Gandhigiri, the ward Councilor, Md. Ehtesham distributed sweets among RMC workers after a stray pig gave birth to a litter of piglets in a house in his ward. Not only this, he now plans to throw a grand party to celebrate the birth of the stray piglets and invite all the top RMC officials to it.
Ehtesham claimed that if the stray pigs from the ward are not removed soon by the RMC, they will celebrate Chhatthi (sixth day of birth of a child) of the piglets and send invitation to senior RMC officials including the mayor and the municipal corporation to participate.
Few areas of the ward have been reeling under pig menace for a quite some time including Purani Ranchi, Lake Road and Bhuinya Toli. “The pigs keep loitering around the streets, which has been a problem for a while now. However, what really troubles us is that the female pigs are now entering random houses and delivering babies there,” Ehtesham said.
He added, “I distributed sweets to shame the officers of RMC because they would not do anything about the issue. This was to drive home the point that if we cannot get rid of the problem we should just celebrate the birth of babies.”
Fed up with the menace, the residents of the ward staged a protest in the area on July 3 demanding removal of these pigs. After a stray pig delivered piglets in the house of a resident, another complaint was raised with the workers of RMC but no action was taken until Tuesday when the RMC workers finally removed the piglets.
“This is just one of the many cases. There are around 35 pigs in the area which create problem for all the residents. We want removal of all those pigs immediately,” Ehtesham said.
He informed that the pigs are reared by a few individuals in Tulsi Nagar and Bhuinya Toli area but instead of keeping the pigs inside a barn, these breeders leave the pigs out on the road creating a problem for the entire ward.
“I am answerable to the people of my ward so I have to fight for them. I have raised the matter in the board meetings several times and have also approached all the officials including the municipal commissioner, additional municipal commissioner and health officer personally but no one paid heed to this problem,” Ehtesham said.
The councilor informed that the stray pigs do not just enter the houses but also cause a lot of accidents on the road when they start running out of nowhere thus confusing the commuters.
Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijayavargiya said that the RMC is taking the matter seriously. “We will get the stray pigs removed from the area. Also, we will take strict action against those rearing pigs and leaving them out on the roads. Action will also be taken against people running cowsheds illegally in the city limits,” he said.