Reacting to media reports on the death of one-year-old Venu after he was mauled to death by stray dogs, Lokayukta Justice B. Subhashan Reddy has suo moto called for reports from the District Collector, District Panchayat Officers and Superintendent of Police on the incident.
In a statement on here on Tuesday, the Lokayukta said that earlier, such incidents were reported in large number from Khammam district.
“This incident only shows that local authorities are not evincing interest in the licensing and administering anti-rabies vaccination, which is resulting in loss of precious lives,” the Lokayukta said.
The Lokayukta has directed district authorities to submit particulars of the deceased child and remedial measures that have been taken up by authorities. The matter has been posted for hearing on October 10.
Meanwhile, Amala Akkineni of Blue Cross Hyderabad said stray dogs are bound to populate areas of garbage concentration. Municipalities need to take up the responsibility of sterilising and vaccinating stray dogs to reduce dog-related problems. The Nagaram Gram Panchayat needs to urgently take up such programmes if the population of strays are to be controlled and the incidence of rabies reduced, she said.
“Wherever municipalities have conducted a well-coordinated Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, the number of dog bites has come down,” Ms. Akkineni added.
