The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Thursday has decided to rope in four more agencies for dog sterilisation programme to control their increasing population in the city. The decision came after DNA reported on February 25, 2019, that more than 9.22 lakh bite cases were recorded in the last nine years.

The programme was introduced on an urgent basis in Thursday's standing committee meeting. The work agenda states that a meeting was held by the municipal commissioner on February 26, 2019, to discuss dog sterilisation so that dog bite cases can be controlled.

"At present, there are three agencies who are carrying out the sterilisation work. Adding four new agencies will speed up the process. A total of seven agencies will work in each zone. We will modify the existing control with the already hired agencies," said Amul Bhatt, chairman of the standing committee.

According to an estimate by the civic body, there are around 75,000 dogs in the city which needs to be vaccinated and sterilised. "It is must to control the dog population. The agencies capture the strays and as per our data there are more than 75,000 dogs which need to be vaccinated," added Bhatt.

After the agencies capture the canines, they need to keep the dog under one-week observation. "Following the treatment, the dogs are supposed to be taken back to their territory. The agencies must keep the dog for a week under observation. During that time because of the pain, biting cases rise," said a senior AMC official.