Cabinet okays by-laws to curb population of stray dogs, SHC told

The provincial cabinet has approved the proposed by-laws to control the population of stray dogs and their mass vaccination, and sent them to the law department for final vetting, the additional secretary local government informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday.

Hearing a petition calling for controlling the population of stray dogs and demanding the availability of free rabies vaccine, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar had asked the LG secretary about compliance with the court’s directives for framing by-laws to deal with stray dogs under the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013.

The additional secretary said that the LG department had given a clear statement that after the approval of the provincial cabinet, the rules would be notified within two weeks for the information of the general public.

He also assured the bench that the rules would be implemented across the board, and necessary instructions would be issued to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and all the district municipal corporations (DMCs) of the city for strict implementation.

The petitioner informed the court that the helpline 1093 was especially dedicated for lodging complaints of dog-bite incidents with the LG department so that the complaints could be forwarded to the relevant DMCs, but the department had converted the helpline for lodging general complaints about cleanliness, water and sewerage, and other civic problems.

He said that the helpline was not functional, and that the two new eight-digit numbers that were advertised were causing inconvenience to the general public for lodging complaints of dog-bite incidents through the helplines.

The additional secretary and other officials undertook that the four-digit helpline number would be restored for lodging complaints of dog-bite incidents, and that it would again be advertised for the convenience of the general public through print and electronic media, while a compliance report would be submitted on the next date of hearing.

The counsel of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) said that dog control cells had already been established to control the population of stray dogs, and assured the bench that most of the stray dogs would be sterilised and vaccinated in their jurisdiction.

The court directed the CEO of the CBC to ensure that the task force proactively performs their duties in their jurisdiction, and that vaccination and sterilisation of stray dogs is carried out on a daily basis, while a progress report is submitted in the next hearing mentioning the number of stray dogs vaccinated and sterilised.

The counsel of the Malir DMC said that a large number of stray dogs have been killed in their jurisdiction, and that efforts will continue to eliminate the menace. The bench also directed the counsels of the other cantonment boards and DMCs of the city to submit their respective compliance reports, and adjourned the hearing until August 17.

Earlier, the LG secretary had informed the SHC that the draft of the by-laws had been approved by the chief minister, and would be placed before the cabinet for the final approval.

Justice Mazhar had asked him about the framing of the by-laws. LG Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah said that a committee was formed under Section 139 of the SLGA to formulate by-laws regarding the matters enumerated in clauses 8, 9 and 10 of Schedule VIII of the Act that deal with the detention, destruction and enforcement of vaccination of stray dogs.

Shah said that the committee had approved the draft of the by-laws that was then also approved by the CM. He said that the draft rules would be presented in the next cabinet meeting for the final approval.

Regarding the rabies control programme and its implementation, the project director of the programme said that a tender was published in newspapers for supplying vaccines according to the relevant procurement rules.

He said that the department evaluated the technical bids, and that the financial bids would be opened in two days, while the entire process would be completed within 10 days.

He also said that the department already received the cabinet’s permission to purchase 60 vehicles to maintain smooth transportation of stray dogs to take them to vaccination centres and release them in their territories.

The bench took notice over the no-show of the Karachi administrator and ordered him to appear in court to explain the reasons for non-compliance with the SHC’s orders. The LG secretary said that their department had been regularly convening meetings with the municipal commissioners of all districts.

The bench said that dog-bite cases were rapidly increasing every day in all areas of the province, and directed the LG to immediately evolve a mechanism to get updates from all the DMCs on a weekly basis to control and avoid such incidents, and gauge their performance in their respective jurisdictions.

The court directed the LG secretary to call for a weekly report from the Taluka municipal officers, to personally monitor the task of overseeing the performance of the DMCs and the Taluka municipal officers, and to submit a compliance report.

The bench directed the cantonment boards to submit their progress reports as well as to ensure that the task force would be deployed in their respective jurisdictions.

The CBC’s counsel said that they had forwarded the draft by-laws to the military estate officer for approval, and sought time to file a compliance report in the next hearing.

Advocate M Tariq Mansoor had said in his petition that Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho had told the provincial assembly that over 92,000 dog-bite cases had been reported across the province in a year by June 30, 2019.

He said that according to the minister, there was also a shortage of rabies vaccine due to the ongoing tension with India and the closure of a Chinese company’s operations.

He added that dog-bite incidents had been worsening day by day due to the failure of the provincial and local administrations to deal with the situation, pointing out that neither were stray dogs being caught nor was the vaccine available at hospitals.