Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 29

The stray dog menace continues to haunt the people of Panchkula as more than 60 dog-bite cases are reported in the city daily even as the Panchkula Municipal Corporation had been claiming to catch canines on a regular basis.

On an average, 15 dog-bite cases were reported in the city the past three months, whereas only four such cases were reported during this period in 2018. Most of the cases were coming to the Sector 6 Civil Hospital from Mani Majra, Mauli Jagran, Indra Colony, Bhainsa Tibba, Sector 19 and Rajiv Colony.

According to information, 450 dog bite cases were reported in January, 446 in February, 445 in March and 150 in the first 15 days of April. Bimlesh, a senior staffer at the emergency, claimed that this month, the hospital received about 70 cases daily.

Panchkula Civil Surgeon Dr Yogesh Sharma said most of the cases were reported from slum areas or colonies in the district. He said whenever any person was bitten by a dog he should wash the injury marks with soap several times. He said free treatment was being provided to the dog-bite victims.

Shelter home for canines

It is pertinent to mention here that as per a survey conducted by the MC, there are 12,000 stray dogs in the district, of these 5,000 are in the city. The MC is constructing a shelter home for canines at Rs 3.03 crore on 4.5 acres at Sukhdarshanpur village near Raipur Rani here. It will have 42 big rooms having capacity of 1,000 dogs.

Municipal Commissioner-cum-Administrator Rajesh Jogpal said the task of catching the stray dogs was in full swing. He said the stray dogs were entering the city from neighboring areas of Baltana, Zirakpur, Harmilap Nagar and Mani Majra. He said sterilisation of dogs was also being done on a regular basis.

He further said people could go to parks for walk without any fear as they had installed special instruments on the main gates of the parks. Dogs feared to enter the parks as special sound waves were being released by these instruments, he added.