Hyderabad, Aug.10 (NSS): Former minister and Siddipet MLA Harish Rao lashed out at the Congress government for not taking minimum measures despite the increasing number of street dog attacks in the State.
“Despite repeated warnings by the High Court against stray dog attacks, the Congress government has not been able to wake up from its deep slumber. The stray dogs were seen mutilating the body of dead baby at MGM hospital in Warangal on Friday. Another differently-abled child was attacked by the dogs in Narsingi Municipality limits on the outskirts of Hyderabad. A four year old baby was attacked by the stray dogs in Ibrahimpatnam assembly constituency of Ranga Reddy district,” he alleged. Harish Rao said it was inhuman that the government was not shaken by such heart-rending incidents.
He said there had been incidents of dogs killing even living people and taking them away, creating panic among the people. The dog attacks on children are becoming a regular feature. It is unfortunate that the government thinks that the death of human beings in dog attack cases in the State is a common issue. Had adequate measures been taken at the beginning of the outbreak of dog bite cases, there would not have been 343 dog bite incidents in the last eight months. Not many people would have lost their lives.
The State government had recently told the High Court that there are 3,79,156 stray dogs in the State. But people think that the number of these dogs is double than the number quoted by the State government,” Harish Rao said.
Harish Rao said after the Congress government came to power, the Palle Pragati and urban development programmes were stopped and sanitation management was hampered in villages and towns. “The menace of stray dogs has increased in areas where garbage has accumulated. The failure of the municipal department in the municipal towns has resulted in the lack of control of the street dogs. Moreover, the system of proper allocation of funds or progeny control operations for dogs is also not working properly at all. As a result, the offspring of street dogs has increased tremendously,” he added.
Harish Rao said the High Court had already issued warnings to the State government several times but the government was still sleeping on the issue. Rao demanded that victims of dog bites should be compensated for the loss and added that the government should immediately take immediate steps to prevent dog bite attacks. “The government should be held responsible for the dog bite incidents that have taken place so far. Compensation should be paid to those who lost their lives and those injured. Ensure immediate medical care for dog bite victims through government hospitals and anti-rabies medicines should be made available in all primary health centres and hospitals. In addition, a comprehensive action plan should be implemented for the control of street dogs,” Harish Rao said. He suggested that regular monitoring should be done to ensure that the number does not increase.
