Ahmedabad's Bopal left to the mercy of stray dogs as AMC, Auda clash

Bopal is adjacent to the area under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) administration and is as savagely terrorized by stray dogs. Yet for reasons known only to the civic body, it has decided to ignore Bopal in the city's first ever dog census.

AMC officials say that when they handed over the city's map to the Humane Society International (HSI) for planning of the dog census, the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) could not provide them with detailed maps of Bopal's town planning schemes. Bopal not falling under the AMC is proving an easy excuse for the civic body not considering the area for the dog census.

Earlier, when DNA had asked AMC chief IP Gautam about the matter, he had promptly directed the deputy municipal commissioner overseeing the dog census, Dilip Mahajan, to ask HSI to include Bopal in the dog census. When DNA checked with HSI officials a week after Gautam's instruction, they denied having received any such direction from the AMC.

"Even if we receive instructions to include Bopal in the dog census, we will not be able to do so. We have already started the dog census and have chosen 16 wards for the sample survey. A new area cannot be included overnight," said an HSI official.
Mahajan told DNA that they will first let the census be over in AMC areas.

"We will inform the HSI at the right time," he said. When DNA asked if the AMC will include Bopal in the dog sterilisation and vaccination programme or not (as it is not under the civic body), Mahajan refused to comment.

Auda chairman Dharmendra Shah said he has not received any communication from the AMC in this regard. "Is it necessary for Auda alone to do everything needed in Bopal? The Bopal gram panchayat needs to put in some effort as well. And if the AMC is already doing the dog census, I believe they should take Bopal as their 65th ward and include it in the exercise," he said.