Stray dog attack: blame game begins

Opposition in grama panchayat says ABC scheme was not implemented properly

With stray dogs claiming one more life in the district, the authorities have engaged themselves in yet another round of blame game.

Close on the heels of Siluvamma’s death nine months ago, the government had embarked on a massive animal birth control (ABC) programme across local bodies in the State.

Ten new facilities for sterilising dogs had been established across the district. While 950 dogs were neutered at the Pettah veterinary hospital, 2,267 canines were neutered at the other facilities in the last four months. These included around 250 dogs that were caught from the Karumkulam grama panchayat, where the gruesome incident took place.

Grama panchayat president G. Hestin claimed that the local body has taken up the ABC programme in right earnest in the recent past. However, there had been an increase in the number of dogs in the locality. He attributed the problem to the ‘transportation of dogs from other places to Pulluvila.’

However, opposition members of the civic body alleged that while Shiluvamma’s death sparked a knee-jerk reaction, the ABC programme has failed to take off. Besides, there has not been any permanent solution to the related problem of accumulating garbage. There are also claims that the situation was not much different in other parts of the district. Stray dog attacks have been reported from Kizhuvilam, near Attingal, and Varkala in the recent past.

Residents of the locality claim there has been over 400 cases relating to dog bites during the last nine months. However, while Shiluvamma’s family had received a solatium of ₹5 lakh, none of other victims have received any compensation so far despite there being provisions for the same, they said.

The Thiruvananthapuram archdiocese committee of the Kerala Latin Catholic Association demanded that the family of the deceased be provided a solatium of ₹5 lakh immediately.