Delhi govt looking for long-term solution to stray dog menace: CM Rekha Gupta

New Delhi: The Delhi government is looking for a long-term solution to the stray dog menace, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Wednesday.

The chief minister was speaking at the inauguration of development work in Pitampura under her Shalimar Bagh constituency. At the event, an elderly lady raised the issue of stray dog menace.

"I am working on solving the problems due to stray dogs. The issues involve both the people as well as the speechless animals," Gupta said.

The Delhi government is creating a platform to bring together the residents as well as those who care for these animals. There is a law and the stray dogs cannot be kept in shelters or displaced from the streets where they live, she said.

"The government is searching for a long-term solution in which neither people nor animals are discomforted. It will be a policy matter which is work under progress," she said.

The Delhi High Court has asked the city government authorities to frame a policy on rehabilitation of stray dogs at an institutional level so that they are "phased out" from public roads and streets.

In view of the "magnanimity of the problem" faced by the general public, the court said, coordinated efforts by the government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Animal Welfare Board of India were needed for the formulation of the policy.

The MCD is authorised to pick up stray dogs from public places but it has to release them at the same place after sterilisation. However, the number of dogs in the city has increased exponentially, leading to frequent reports of dog bites in the city.