MP CM asks officials to find permanent solution for dog menace

Bhopal, Jan 3 (IANS) Two days after a four-year-old girl was attacked by a pack of street dogs in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday asked district administration and Municipal Corporation (BMC) to find a permanent solution for dog menace in the city.

The Chief Minister on Monday called Bhopal district collector Avinash Lavania and BMC Commissioner K.V.S. Choudhary Kolsani. As per the Chief Minister's office, during the meeting, Chouhan expressed his anguish over the incident that took place on Saturday in which a minor girl was mauled by 5-6 stray dogs, and asked the officials to find a permanent solution for dog menace.

Sources told IANS that during the meeting, BMC apprised the Chief Minister that around 1,600 street dogs have been sterilised in the period of last two months in Bhopal. Sources also said that in the last five years, the BMC has sterilised more than 4,000 street dogs for which it has spent around Rs seven crore.

Meanwhile, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has also issued notice to the BMC and has sought an explanation on the matter.

The CCTV footage of Saturday's horrific incident that went viral on social media showed the minor was chased, pulled to the ground and then bitten by dogs. The dogs surrounded her and bit her on her head, belly and legs as she struggled to escape. She was pulled to the ground by the dogs, which continued to attack her.

The helpless girl was rescued by a passer-by who noticed her crying surrounded by four to five street dogs. He chased them away. The girl is recuperating in the state government-run hospital in Bhopal.