Boy's death exposes BBMP’s failure to curb stray menace

The death of 11-year-old Praveen after being attacked by 10 stray dogs has exposed the failure of the BBMP to control the stray menace.

Following the incident, the civic body caught all the stray dogs and sent them to the veterinary health centre, but locals say that the response is futile. Stray dogs are a persistent threat to human safety in all major and inner city areas and residential layouts.

Mayor R Sampath Raj told DH: "It's unfortunate that the incident has happened. We’ve taken action against the official concerned. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has called for a meeting to discuss the issue and we’ll take a decision to control the stray dog menace."

Besides announcing Rs 5 lakh compensation for the boy's death, the civic authorities have also offered Rs 50,000 for his funeral. BBMP sources claim that close to 1.91 lakh dog bite cases are reported from 2009 till August 2018.

The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules-2001 states that the dog control squad can capture a dog in the BBMP limits and hand it over to the authorities concerned for ABC procedures. But the animal must be left back in the same place after the procedure.

The ABC programme has been unsuccessful due to several irregularities, including not paying the NGO concerned for the ABC services. The BBMP has sterilised 3.86 lakh dogs from 2010 till 2017. The civic body claims to have spent Rs 24.41 crore for the sterilisation procedure.