Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Feb 13: Port Blair city has become a paradise and a happy breeding ground for Street Dogs. It seems that soon a day will come when these street dogs will out number human population in A & N Islands.
At present the population of street dogs has increased in such an alarming rate that crossing any stretch of road in Port Blair city during night hours, without facing a dog attack has become impossible thing. In every junction of Port Blair city one can find a gang of atleast 10 to 12 dogs, who charge pedestrians and two wheelers and give them a scary time.
Though the Port Blair Municipal Council claims to conduct regular sterilization of street dogs but the ever growing number of street dogs confirms that the claims made by PBMC is baseless and misleading. The truth in this case can be checked either by Chief Secretary or the Secretary of PBMC himself by going for a walk or a drive in a two-wheeler from Clock towers to Corbyn’s Junction. If the Chief Secretary or the Secretary PBMC ever finds time for such inspection then they will see atleast 200 dogs on that particular stretch of road. Condition is same in other areas too.
To check how effective is the dog-catching unit of PBMC, a call was made a some months back by Andaman Sheekha in PBMC’s complaint section. Complaint was lodged about growing menace of Dog at South Point Junction, which is a genuine issue. The PBMC reacted after two long days and the staffs of Dog catching unit reached the spot to catch dogs at around 10.30 am as if dogs follow government office timing and shall wait for dog-catchers in day time. As dogs mostly show up at evening and night hours, the team of nearly four men could not even locate a single dog in the area and went back. The team never returned back again to the area or contacted the complainant, the caller from Andaman Sheekha, to convey that they couldn’t find a single dog at that area.
This is perhaps happening in every area. Firstly most of the people doesn’t know that a dog catching unit of PBMC exists and those who know, get no help from the said unit. People believe that dogs are caught but sterilized only in papers and this fact can’t be proved by anyone as it is impossible for anyone to question a dog about their sterilization and to know the truth. However, the truth is that the Port Blair city roads virtually remain captured by street dogs all the time, especially at night and late night hours and Islanders find them totally helpless in this issue.
There is a need to streamline the Dog Catching unit of PBMC and cross check what kind of work the unit is doing and how many dogs are actually caught in a day by the said unit. Simply catching only a few dogs to maintain office record won’t solve the problems of Islanders.
The PBMC must also act on proper disposal of garbage and spread awareness about proper disposal of garbage in city as garbage scattered on road attract more and more dogs. Steps must be taken immediately or soon human being will find themselves alienated by Dogs in Port Blair city.
