Over 45K dog bite cases in 5 yrs, 84 lost lives: RTI query

NAGPUR: It could be termed as yet another issue where judiciary’s orders are dumped in bins. Despite stringent directives from Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court from time to time, the stray dog menace refuses to go away, thanks to apathy and inefficiency of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) officials. Over 45,000 cases of dog bite took place in last five years, in which 84 citizens lost their lives due to rabies, says the reply to an RTI query submitted to NMC’s nodal medical officer.
The answers provided to veteran RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar’s queries reveal that the number of dog bites is on the rise. This is because a majority of them go unreported, as citizens prefer medical treatment at their own cost rather than depending on NMC. Of the reported biting cases, about 3,985 victims were children. Many cases have been reported where stray dogs pounced on new born kids or toddlers, right inside hospitals or when kids were playing near their parents. However, civic officials refuse to take any serious action, and even the judiciary seems to have given up hope.
Social activists like Vijay Talewar and Aniruddha Gupta had approached the judiciary way back in 2006, to fight this menace through counsel Firdos Mirza. However, nothing has been done to rein in the terror spread by canines in almost all localities. “Justice JN Patel had delivered an important order, where he directed NMC to divide the city into different zones and hand them over to NGOs, which oppose killing of stray dogs. The NGOs were told to take proper care of such canines in the area allotted to them. In every case of dog bite, the NGOs were told to compensate the citizens,” Mirza told TOI.
The court order of November 21, 2007, expressed concern over scarcity of anti-rabies vaccine and its prohibitive cost, but the government pointed out that ‘Rabipor’ manufactured by Hafkine as well as other medicines was available in market.
“Some efforts are being taken by NMC to curb the menace. However, the measures are hopelessly inadequate. It’s a matter of concern that thousands of stray dogs are posing great danger to public safety. It’s necessary to evolve a method to reduce their menace considerably and also eliminate their nuisance,” the then division bench comprising justice Dilip Sinha and justice Vasanti Naik had stated.
NMC had decided to sterilize dogs and fixed 400-800 for the NGOs to carry out the task. Initially, some efforts were made, but the entire exercise turned out to be a big failure, as dog numbers kept multiplying. “In spite of sterilization, one can find new dogs and pups moving on roads. Neither NMC nor NGOs have taken serious cognisance of court orders of June 14, 2006,” Mirza added.
(With inputs from Shivani Damle)