New Delhi: Animal rights activist and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday flagged the numerous illegal stray dog NGOs in the country and urged the government to providing training to the recognised ones and also issue only one contract per NGO.
The former reaction came after the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to recall its earlier directions on the management of stray dogs in public places, while issuing a series of fresh directions to ensure stricter implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) framework across the country.
Calling the apex court’s directions as “undoable”, she remarked: “The Supreme Court has accepted defeat.”
Speaking to IANS, Maneka Gandhi said: “ABC centres have been closed in Delhi while none has been created.”
She flagged that majority of stray dogs NGOs in the country are run illegally.
“There are only 16 NGOs in the country which are trained and honest. One company runs multiple NGOs and they simply divide the money and pretend to have performed sterilisation. This is happening in over 150 districts in the country,” she alleged.
“Ninety-five per cent of the current ABC centres in the country are fake. They don’t perform sterilisation on stray dogs and keep half of the money with themselves and give the rest to some municipality officer. At least Rs 500 to 600 crores have been spent this way,” she said.
Giving an example, Maneka Gandhi said: “There is a place called Mandla in Madhya Pradesh which had given contract for ABC centres. That centre came up and was raided after two weeks. During the raid it was found that no stray dog underwent ‘ABC’ at the centre. Moreover, it had bought testicles and ovaries from Bhopal and Indore (of dead stray dogs).
“By showing those, that centre was earning Rs 10 lakh per week,” the Union Minister added.
She also alleged: “The government has spent around 700 crores each week for eradication of polio but how much has it spent on the stray dog issue? Nothing… Let them spend that much money in the entire programme and then see the difference.”
Maneka Gandhi urged the Union government to take action in the matter with efficiency and honesty.
When asked what should be the way ahead in the matter, the former Union Minister urged states to open 780 ABC centres, arrange for training of NGOs and make a law that no NGO can take more than one contract.
Maneka Gandhi alleged that an NGO in Chennai had taken 11 contracts.
“Another NGO in Maharashtra’s Vasai-Virar has taken five contracts. This has transformed into a mafia,” she said.
“In Haryana, eight to nine contracts have been taken by NGOs which are illegal,” she added.
The former Union Minister appealed for the removal of such fake NGOs.
The apex court bench also referred to reports showing 1,084 dog bite incidents in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district in a single month.
Responding to the dog bite incident reports by the Supreme Court, Maneka Gandhi questioned the alleged absence of ABC centres in Ganganagar.
“There are no trained NGOs in Rajasthan except one, named ‘Help and Suffering’ in Jaipur,” she alleged.
She noted that had the apex court ordered that if ABC centres are not opened then the area’s Municipal Commissioner would be punished, then such centres would have been opened.
(IANS)
