Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation to appoint agency to catch stray dogs

Many residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad who move about in fear of stray dogs at night will get relief as the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) would soon be calling for tenders to get an agency to work during odd hours to catch stray dogs.

Independent corporator Maruti Bhapkar had appealed to the corporation to make some arrangement to take care of emergency situations at night. There have been many instances where people had to face problems.

According to Bhapkar, “There have been situations where some people have been bitten or some vehicles that have been chased by dogs have met with accidents. People cannot walk at night and those returning from night shifts have to run for their lives if they come across a stray dog.’’

The  veterinary department of the PCMC has a team that goes around from 7 am to 10 pm, picking up stray dogs, which are sterilised and set free.

According to Bhapkar, “There should be a team that would help people at night and catch dogs that create problems for people.’’

Senior veterinary official of PCMC, Dr Satish Gore explains, “Our teams work during the day and most dogs are not active during these hours. Hence, even if the team spends their entire day, no dogs are found easily. The dogs are active either late in the evening or early in the morning.”

“To catch these dogs, we have decided to give the job to some agency which would catch the dogs and hand them over to us. We would be giving them a limit regarding the number of dogs to be caught.’’