Bhubaneswar: Abiding by the Supreme Court’s ruling on feeding stray dogs, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) here launched an initiative to collect data on the number of stray dogs being fed by people daily. A link has been added in BMC’s official website and by clicking on it, users will be redirected to a fresh page where they can give information on the number of stray dogs they are feeding every day.The initiative also aligns with the BMC’s ambitious target of making Bhubaneswar rabies-free by 2030. To start with, citizens will provide their basic details like name, address, gender and contact information. Thereafter, the form-like page will collect detailed information on how many times citizens feed the dogs in a day, the preferred time slots and the place. The form will then be submitted to BMC’s IT cell.“We seek people’s cooperation in making the city rabies-free by 2030 and this initiative is a part of it. We request all the citizens to visit our website and fill out the form for our information,” city mayor Sulochana Das said.“In this way, we are also abiding by the Supreme Court’s ruling on stray dogs,” Das said.Last year, the apex court had prohibited feeding dogs in public spaces, except the designated spots. The court had ruled that regular feeders may be held financially liable for compensation if the dogs cause injuries.The BMC, however, said that the information they are collecting from the people is only for reference and not to penalise them for the act.The civic body is also intensifying its vaccination drive to achieve the set targets and to abide by the court’s ruling.BMC recently launched a city-wide anti-rabies campaign from March 15 with an aim to vaccinate over 52,000 dogs within two months. The civic body has also identified over 400 institutions for the phased removal and rehabilitation of the dogs.
