Jodhpur

Kolkata

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Thailand

rabies

I was coming out of the house. A dog jumped on my bike and bit my leg. The dog refused to leave my leg. Due to the impact, I fell off the bike. Fortunately, my head was safe Manohar, cook for 10 years at a house in the society

Following their complaints, our team went to the society and vaccinated the dogs. As per guidelines, we have to leave dogs back in the area. We can keep stray dogs under observation only if they show symptoms of rabies. ” Pratap Rathod, superintendent of Cattle Nuisance Control Department

For over two weeks now, septuagenarian Dipti Shah has been in self-imposed house arrest of sorts. As far as possible, she avoids going out of her residence. Reason: stray dog menace. She is not alone. Occupants of each of the 75 houses in Tulsi Row House inarea share her fear. Their fears are not unfounded.A fortnight ago, Shah had to leave forby an early morning flight when she was bitten by a dog. "Just after I stepped out of my house to get into the car, a dog came running from nowhere and bit me hard even before I could register anything. I had to rush to the doctor and my travel plans fell flat," reveals Shah. Ever since, she is reluctant to step out, especially if she is alone.Residents claim that at least 10 people have been bitten by stray dogs since December last year. Repeated requests to thehave fallen on deaf ears. Such is the terror that even domestic helps, newspaper and vegetable vendors and cooks refuse to enter the society, they say.Revealing his ordeal, Anant Vaidya (65) says, "I was going out with my wife when a bunch of dogs attacked me. My wife used her presence of mind and shooed them away." He avers that the menace affects their society more as majority of the residents are senior citizens.Recalling another incident of dog bite which also became a huge embarrassment, he said that one of the guests at a wedding ceremony in the society was attacked. "He was the son-in-law of the family. They were to go on a leisure trip to, but had to cancel the trip because of the incident," says Vaidya. He claims he had made several complaints to AMC about this menace but nothing happened about it. "Being senior citizens, we would love to take a stroll in the society and outside. We could do that six months ago, but now we don't dare to walk around anymore. We also do not allow children to play in the society," he adds.Manoharsinh Rathod, a cook at one of the houses in the society for last 10 years, had a narrow escape when he was chased by a dog. "After finishing my work on May 25, I was coming out of the house. A dog jumped on my bike and bit my leg. The dog refused to leave my leg. Due to the impact, I fell off the bike. Fortunately, my head was safe," he said. While he has resumed work at other places, he has refused to go back to this society, at least for now.AMC officials said that they can hardly do anything about it. Confirming receipt of the complaint, Pratap Rathod, superintendent of Cattle Nuisance Control Department (CNCD) of AMC, said, "Following their complaints, our team went to the society and vaccinated the dogs. As per guidelines, we have to leave dogs back in the area we pick them from. We can keep stray dogs under observation only if they show symptoms of. In this case, we did not observe any such symptom and so we left them back in the area."The number of dog bites in the city has seen an increase over the years. In 2015, AMC registered 50,209 cases of dog bite.The number rose to 52,639 in 2016 and to 56,180 in 2017. In the first four months of 2018, as many as 22,593 cases were reported.