Corporation and AWBI funds dispute allows stray dogs to have free run in Vellore

Speaking to DT Next, Corporation commissioner C Vijayakumar said, “According to rules, the AWBI should contribute 50 per cent of the funds spent on animal birth control operations by the urban body. We sent a detailed statement listing the works carried out to the tune of Rs 16.66 lakh in 2008. So far, there has been no response from the board.”

Despite sending periodic reminders to the AWBI since 2008, Vijayakumar said the dues have not been cleared till date.

Given the situation, citizen activists claimed that the local body was not fulfilling its responsibility of catching and sterilising stray dogs in the town.

“Lack of funds has put the drive to control stray dog menace on the back burner,” said consumer activist K Sathiyamoorthy.

Meanwhile, sources in the local office of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), said the local body has not taken any initiative to tackle the problem. The SPCA was ready to offer expertise for the initiative, sources added. “Earlier, we used to attend a meeting convened by the corporation. But for the past few years, we have not been invited,” sources claimed, adding, “A year ago we received a receipt for Rs 10,000 from the Vellore government veterinary clinic for medicines purchased which surprised us as we have not bought medicine for years.”

Repeated efforts to contact the regional office of AWBI for a comment regarding the dues to the Vellore corporation proved futile, while an official at its head office in Haryana said they would look into the matter.