By Agence India Press
Srinagar: Fear of stray dogs is haunting people in most areas of the city as Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has miserably failed to deal with the increasing population of dogs.
The nuisance is unavoidable for helpless people, who can do nothing but suffer without any fault of theirs. Over past years, dogs have occupied premier hospitals including SMHS, Lal-Ded, and SKIMS causing immense inconveniences to the attendants and patients’. The school going children are more prone to attacks by dogs and this is worrying the parents.
For people, it has become increasingly difficult to attend late evening prayers as dogs intensify their movement in the evening posing more dangers to humans.“Sometimes, dogs chase people, who venture out of their homes to attend prayers at mosque. Now people move in groups to mosque for late evening prayers to avoid attacks by dogs. Children are so prone to attacks by dogs and often, parents accompany children to school fearing that they may be attacked by dogs,” said Mohammad Anwar of Mehjoor Nagar.
According to data, the anti-rabies clinic at the SMHS hospital here alone has recorded 20644 dog bite cases from 2005 to 2010. This is excluding the figures registered by the directorate of health services Kashmir with officials putting the minimum figure at around 5000 in the past three years.
The areas where the dog scare is looming large and haunting the people include Jawahar Nagar, Raj Bagh, Aloochi bagh, Saraibala, Magarmal bagh, Lal Bazar, Nawab Bazaar, Dalal Mohalla, Qalamdanpora, Syed Hameed Pora, Daba Tal, Gunz Khud, Chamardori, Zaina Kadal, Fateh Kadal, Gurguri Mohalla, Aali Kadal, Sualeh Masjid, Habbab Sahib, and Safa Kadal.
People at large allege that due to the non-serious attitude of SMC, the population of dogs has gone up to the extent that at few places dogs have outnumbered the human population. “SMC is watching the sufferings of people as a mute spectator. The dogs have outnumbered the population of human beings over past years. Dogs have attacked few children and dogs are posing increasing dangers to human lives. At times, dogs bark during nights rendering children sleepless,” told Murataza Ahmad of Safa Kadal.
Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Sheikh Mushtaq after repeated attempts though picked the phone but avoided a comment on the issue.
To a question, Commissioner said, “An officer is busy this time. Don’t know, when he will get free,”