Following the death of a three-year-old girl after being mauled by stray dogs, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said that at least 5,000 people are attacked by dogs every day.
The party attacked the BJP-governed municipal corporations for inaction and alleged corruption in sterilisation of stray dogs being done by the civic bodies.
“One can get an idea of the actual numbers when I tell you that Lok Nayak Hospital [the largest Delhi Government-run hospital] alone witnesses 120-130 cases of dog bites every single day. Most people usually go to a nearby private clinic for an injection and get it over with. So forget these private clinic numbers. If we even focus on the statistics from Government hospitals, I can guarantee that at least 5,000 people are attacked by dogs every day. Such immense is the terror of these stray dogs in Delhi’s streets,” AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
The three-year-old girl was mauled to death by stray dogs at a DDA park in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar on December 17, the police said on Monday.
Anti-rabies medicines
“If we only look at municipal corporation’s data from its hospitals from 2017, every day, 225 people were reported being bitten by stray dogs. After that, the municipal hospitals stopped storing anti-rabies medicines. If one visits a municipal hospital, five out of seven days, or even throughout the week it’s possible that the anti-rabies medicine isn’t available with them. This was their mechanism to control the large number of dog menace cases being reported — they stopped keeping the medicine, and people stopped going to their hospitals for help. Through this, they manipulated the actual figures when it came to people being attacked by stray dogs,” the AAP leader said.
He also alleged that sterilisation of dogs is only happening on paper.
“The latest dog census was conducted in 2009 by the civic bodies, which reported 5.60 lakh dogs in Delhi. Since then, no other State-wide survey has been conducted. Now, the corporation pays ₹750-₹1,100 to private NGOs for sterilising a dog, to prevent it from reproducing. Within this process, the civic bodies have spread such a wide corruption racket that dogs were being sterilised merely on paper. So, to hide these increasing population numbers, the corporations have stopped conducting dog census after 2009. If the census had taken place, it would reflect an increase in dog population,” he said.
Mr. Bharadwaj said that BJP state president Adesh Gupta should answer that if dogs are actually being sterilised then why is their population continuing to increase and what are the corporations doing to put an end to the canine menace.
No salary
The AAP on Tuesday alleged that over 3,000 teachers are protesting outside East Delhi Municipal Corporation headquarters as they haven’t been paid their salaries for four months.
“Despite the fact that the Delhi Government paid all its dues to the civic bodies, the BJP-ruled corporation has not paid teachers’ salaries. The BJP is embezzling civic bodies’ funds and forcing teachers to protest on the streets while its party leaders enjoy feasts,” AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said.
