Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has reportedly drafted a set of regulations without any consultation with any specialist worth the name and most arbitrarily sans concern for the practical guards of the residents of Bhubaneswar, which, if promulgated, is bound to dissuade dog keeping and pave the path for criminals to have a very unhindered grazing ground in the city.
Under this regulation, dog owners would be required to register their pets wth the BMC for license with details of the breed, breeder, owner, administered vaccines and records of aptitude test conducted by a registered vet. They are to convince the BMC authorities that their dogs are in specious houses in healthy environment. Most of the dog owners shall not succeed in meeting these requirements. So, this organised official harassment would force many dog owners to throw away their pets and dissuade dog keeping, which would render households bereft of their most beloved and trusted guards.
I have no reason not to be inciled to apprehend that this rash design is influenced by some secret syndicate of criminals engaged mostly in burglary, robbery, larceny and thievery. Police having failed to make the city crimefree, people pet powerful dogs for their own safety. Making a rigorous law that would certainly dissuade dog-keeping in Bhubaneswar is to deny the citizens their right to have private guards more trusted to them than the police. Who shall benefit? Only the criminals of the types above mentioned.
It is unthinkable that the dogs would not be allowed to walk along the side of the streets. The dog-owner shall be fined if the pet soils the street with its excretas. I have seen in USA, every dog owner carries a plastic bag to clean immediuately the street of excretas of his/her pet dog and deposits the same in the nearby trash-can which gets vacuum-cleaned by municipal vehicles quite frequently. The BMC must make this arrangement before enforcing such ban orders on housebreaking of dogs. Housebreaking can also be executed inside the campus of a dog owner. But proper training for the same is essential. Bhubaneswar has no dog-training school, even as there is severe dearth of dog-trainers. BMC must look into this matter before its proposed regulation is promulgated.
I have long since been demanding that the Government should allot suitable land to Kennel Club of Orissa for helping in socialisation of pet dogs or on its own accord should develop a dog-park. The Government has not yet paid any heed. With blatant failure of administration to provide proper environment for socialisation and training of dogs, the proposed regulation of BMC on pet dogs is completely misconceived and would cause harm to the right of the people to sound sleep with their trusted friend guarding their houses. I strongly apprehend this colorable excercise of municipal power is guided by crime syndicate that is clandestinely working to capture Bhubaneswar for looting its inhabitants.
Had it not been so, before advancing such rash regulation, the BMC should have conducted a deep study in the matter of dogs in Bhubaneswar. Kennel Club of Orissa should have been urged upon to represent the dog owners in formulating an acceptable policy. All the dog-clinics and Departmental Heads of the Veterinary Science College, OUAT, Bhubaneswar and Pet Parents of Bhubaneswar & Cuttack active in social media should have been involved in this policy framing. It has not been done.
All the streets of the city are overcrowded with stray dogs. None of these stray dogs are vaccinated in due stage and all of them are natural carriers of rabies and many other viruses. Every now and then there is road accident due to the stray dogs, when all the reported cases of rabies are caused by these untamed animals.To cleanse the city of the stray dogs should be the primary concern of BMC. Instead of paying urgent attention to this, it is planning to subject the dog owners to rigorous regulation.
Danger to human life in Bhubaneswar emanates from the failure of BMC to implement the BMC Act, 2003 that prohibits cow-keeping in the city. The cow-keepers had challenged the Act even in the Supreme Court. Their case was rejected with instruction to the State Government to implement the Act forthwith. That has not been implemented as yet. As the city is severely hit with Dengue and the BMC is bound to face public stricture over no implementation of the Act of 2003, this new farce if contrived to divert public attention, if not guided by crime syndicate.
It appears, the hole design is to show the citizens that they are mere subjects under the mercy of fellows that brag to be their masters. They can sleep over the BMC Act, 2003 and can extinguish sound sleep of the people residing in Bhubaneswar by promulgating the dog regulation, as they like.
May you please watch: