Stray dogs and monkeys continue to bleed Delhi

The Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, till last year, was expected to treat around 200 patients everyday with anti-rabies vaccines (ARV). This year, however, the hospital has received around 1,000 dog-bite cases daily.

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The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) received as many as 10,248 complaints related to nuisance created by stray dogs and monkeys in 2018, a data by the civic body has revealed.

The data also revealed that the South DMC recorded 7,388 complaints, while the East DMC reported 3,882 complaints, bringing the total number of complaints to 21,518 in a single year.

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The trifurcated civic body is also responsible for curbing this menace, which it seems to have failed to do, even after spending crores of rupees allotted to them for the same purpose.

Delhi residents complain of the rising menace as these strays tend to attack pedestrians, children and old people, more often in search of food and water.

However, according to BJP leader Kamaljeet Sahrawat, also serving as the Leader of the House SDMC, the law inhibits capturing of monkeys and stray dogs.

"As per the law, the authorities will have to release a captured dog after sterilization, that too at the same place from where it was caught," Sahrawat said. "Monkeys fall under the 'wild animals' category, therefore, it is now the responsibility of the Delhi government to take steps in order to curb this menace.

The Animal Welfare Board of India has also said that the Wildlife Department is best suited to catch the monkeys," she added.

According to a MCD official, more than 21,000 monkeys were relocated to Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary till April this year, with about Rs 11.07 crore spent by the forest department on providing them food. Crores have also been spent by the three MCDs on catching and relocating these animals.

The Leader of Opposition Sujeet Pawar said, "It is a clear case of corruption. On one hand, the MCD accepts that crores have been spent on this, and on the other, they say that the law doesn't allow them to catch stray dogs and monkeys."

Another Congress leader Mukesh Goyal said, "From the last 15 years, the BJP has been heading the civic agency. The situation has become worse. Their officials and leaders are busy in corruption. Now, there are no medicines or vaccines to treat monkey and dog bites in any of the MCD-run hospitals."