BANGALORE: Alarmed by the rate of dog bites in Bangalore, the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice S R Nayak has directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to send a comprehensive report on the steps taken to contain street dogs and prevent dog bites.There are several dog-bite victims in Bangalore. The incident where a child was attacked by 15 stray dogs at Bharath Earth Movers Limited (BEML) quarters in March 2007 is still fresh in Bangaloreans’ memory. Another child, Sandeep, was mauled by stray dogs in July last year at Yelahanka Satellite Town. Recently, one more child was attacked by the stray dogs.However, Dr Parvez Piran, BBMP Joint Director of Animal Husbandry Department, has made it clear that prevention of dog bites is impossible. “Most dog bites occurred due to provocation of dogs by people,” said Dr Piran.But Justice Nayak is not ready to accept the BBMP’s version. Justice Nayak, in a suo motu order (HRC.No.26/SM-06/2012), has stated that there is no end to dog menace in Bangalore and almost every day the instances of dog bites have been reported by the media. “On previous occasions, the Commission had issued a number of notices to the BBMP Commissioner to take effective and prompt steps and measures to contain and ultimately eradicate the instances of dog bites in the city,” said Justice Nayak.Meanwhile, Dr Piran said that the number of dog bites have come down. “The number of dog bites was 34,000 in 2003-04 when BMP’s jurisdiction was confined to only 100 wards. The number of dog bites was 24,120 during 2010-11 in the BBMP’s jurisdiction. Till December end, the number of dog bites stood at only 9,800. It indicates the drastic decrease in number of dog bites in the city,” clarified Dr Piran.A release from Karnataka State Human Rights Commission differs with Dr Piran on the number of dog bite cases. “Despite assurances made to the Commission by the BBMP authorities, the instances of dog bites are increasing. The BBMP authorities cannot be a silent spectator to the menace or treat it in a casual way. It is needless to state that quite often the victims of dog bites are children belonging to poverty-stricken families who live on the streets exposing themselves to the attack by unruly and sick street dogs. Again, within a couple of weeks, many instances of dog bites are reported by the media,” the release said.Stating that the BBMP has been making best efforts to contain stray dogs, Dr Piran says that the animal husbandry department of BBMP has taken up animal birth control (ABC) programme aggressively. “We have sterilised 69,141 stray dogs and vaccinated 1,16,418 stray dogs in the year 2010-11. We aim to sterilise one lakh stray dogs and vaccinate 1.50 lakh stray dogs in 2011-12. We have already sterilised 74,000 stray dogs and vaccinated 1.12 lakh stray dogs at the end of December 2011. We are hopeful of achieving the target without any hassles,” said Dr Piran.Meanwhile, M K Shankarlinge Gowda, Commissioner, BBMP, made it clear that the BBMP has been paying compensation to the victims. “Paying compensation to the dog-bite victims will not solve the problem. The BBMP should have the power to kill stray dogs. As of now, the civic body has no such power,” said Gowda.
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