when it comes to the sterilizing of stray dogs

On average 56 people are bitten each day in the Capital, yet all three municipal corporations are delivering a poor performance in sterilizing just 1 per cent of the stray dogs roaming in the streets of Delhi as of 2016.

In a shocking revelation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation has sterilized only 0.01 per cent of 1,89,285 stray dogs in the past one year.

According to sources, more than 1,000 incidents of dog bites have surfaced in the past one month.

On average 56 people are bitten in a day in the Capital, yet all three municipal corporations are delivering a poor performance in sterilizing even 1 per cent of the stray dogs on the streets

Falling prey to the menace, one of the residents told Mail Today that last month, the residents of Greater Kailash woke up to a loud scuffle and barking of dogs late at night for three days consecutively.

On discovering, it was found that an unknown vehicle unloaded 10-15 dogs in a compound nearby.

'We tried getting the number of the vehicle traced but all we came to know that it was a registered vehicle from Najafgarh but it clearly looks like an unscrupulous act of capturing dogs from one locality and releasing the same lot somewhere else,' said Rajiv Kakria, a civil activist residing in the same locality.

He also claimed that things are now getting out of hand with the security guards also getting bitten.

'No one is spared from this mounting problem, from security guards to managing committee members, we see cases of dog bites every month. My guard was bitten twice despite having a cane stick,' said Rajiv.

Residents, who are yet to see even one official from the municipality to step in for a dialogue, are left in the lurch.

'We have never been contacted by any municipal officer for addressing this issue.

'When the problem is difficult to contain, we end up calling an NGO and if the SDMC claims to have deployed other NGOs on the ground to sterilize the dogs, why are they nowhere to be seen?' asks another resident of Greater Kailash.

Raking up the issue in the recent budget speech, Farhad Suri, Leader of Opposition said, at this pace the sterilization rate is grossly inadequate.

'For the dogs' population to remain static, at least 70 per cent need to be sterilized,' said Suri.

One of the reasons why the problem of taming dog population surfaces every year, is the ineffective sterilization drives.

'It is a misconception that sterilization drives stabilise the dog population.

However, one problem that sterilization does solve effectively is, controlling the dog bites and nuisance behaviour aspect of the stray dogs,' said Rahul Sehgal from Humane Society International.

The prime indicator of a successful sterilization drive include a drastic reduction in the number of puppies in the breeding season followed by a significant reduction in the dog bite, Sehgal told.

The corporations will have to carry out sterilization drives consecutively for five to six years to ensure that there is a reduction in the dog bites, confirmed a corporation official.