After boy's death in society, Noida plans stray dog policy

NOIDA: After outrage over a toddler's death, the Noida Authority is planning a "dog policy" to identify feeding points and build small shelters in residential areas to reduce chances of conflict, officials said on Thursday. The Authority will also come up with a three-month roster for the stray dog sterilisation programme, they said.
On October 17, a 7-month-old boy died after he was bitten by stray dogs while his parents - a construction worker and his wife - were having lunch in the Lotus Boulevard society, Sector 100. Angered, the residents of the society had protested, demanding that the stray dogs be relocated from the apartment complex. The Authority had taken some 10-15 stray dogs from the society and shifted them to an animal shelter in Sector 94 to gauge if the canines are aggressive.
India outlaws dislocation of stray dogs from their territory unless there is evidence that they are aggressive or suffer from rabies.
Officials said that the new policy will be unveiled on Friday. "The policy aims to reduce human-dog conflicts, and also reduce arguments over feeding points and solving issues related to stray dogs. The Authority has decided to frame rules to remove these ambiguities. The basic idea is that stray dogs should not be fed in open public areas that are frequented by people," officer on special duty (OSD) Indu Prakash Singh said.
The policy will involve coming up with designated feeding points for stray dogs - an exercise also specified by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) but barely followed in NCR cities, including Noida.
There will be 2-3 feeding points in every sector, and the Authority will also keep a list of feeders, Singh said.
TOI had reported on October 19 that just a handful of societies in Gautam Budh Nagar had decided feeding points on their own. At the time, Authority officials had said that they were willing to assist if the RWAs approached them, but none had. Around 18 small dog shelters will be built near compost plants, or other shaded areas, in sectors across the city, the OSD said, adding that these will be managed by the RWAs and animal lovers. These shelters are meant to house stray dogs believed to be aggressive until there is a behavioural change, he said.
On the sterilisation drive, Singh said that a sector-wise roster will be distributed to the RWAs.
The Authority has employed two NGOs for the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, with officials claiming that each of these sterilises nearly 20 dogs per day. Officials estimate there are at least 70,000 stray dogs in the city, of which some 40,000 (57%) had been sterilised over the past five years. But there is no census to corroborate this figure.