NAGPUR: After the civic administration decided to crack the whip against illegal slaughterhouses, the first to face the music was the one in Sahakar Nagar. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) officials conducted a surprise check and caught the Shankar Nagar outlet off-guard. During the raid, it was observed that animals were being slaughtered in an open ground near Khamla market.
Talking to the media, additional municipal commissioner Atul Patne said that all 10 zonal officers have been directed to identify illegal slaughter houses and take stern action against them.
Patne also issued a notice to the Young Men's Christian Association for not maintaining records of sterilisation of dogs. The NMC had authorised organisations like YMCA, Society for Prevention of Cruelty on Animals (SPCA), ISAW and Royal Veterinary Society of India to check the stray dog menace.
When the team of NMC officials visited the YMCA sterilisation centre, the YMCA staffers claimed that they sterilised 13 dogs on Tuesday itself. While talking about the procedure, Patne said that it is mandatory to keep animals under observation for 24 hours after sterilisation. However, the staffers immediately released the dogs after the operation.
In addition, YMCA staffers didn't even maintain records of dogs sterilised in the last ten days, Patne said. The civic body is not satisfied with the progress of sterilisation of dogs as the NGOs have fallen short of the target, he added.
Recently, in an affidavit submitted to the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, the NMC said that there were 8,400 stray dogs in the city. A provision of Rs 34 lakh was made for this project, with NGOs getting Rs 450 for sterilising
one dog.
However, a public interest litigation filed by social worker Vijay Talewar claimed otherwise. According to the PIL, there are around 34,000 stray dogs in the city. They have become a big nuisance for citizens and the NMC was not taking steps to solve this problem.
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