Men from the GHMC dog-capturing teams have found an easy way to make money. Residents who are grateful to them for carting away the stray dogs pay them a “tea mamool”. Residents say they don’t mind paying, but the dog-catchers are not doing a proper job. “Our area has many dogs. We have been repeatedly lodging complaints with GHMC. The dog-catching teams come to the locality with a van, collect Rs 50 from each house and vanish without catching the dogs. They come knocking on our doors again after a week or fortnight and catch one or two dogs after taking mamool. They justify this by saying all the dogs cannot be trapped in one visit as the dogs smell the dog-catching van and run away,” said G. Suresh, a resident of Kalyanpuri in Uppal.
Under the Animal Birth Control project, strays cannot be killed. They must be picked up, sterilised and then returned to the areas from where they were picked up. This too creates scope for a little corruption, said N.V. Srivatsa of Barkatpura. “I have this strong suspicion that dogs picked up from other areas are being silently dropped into our area. Of late, the number of stray dogs has gone up in our colony. My neighbour told me that if we can pay money to the dog-catchers, they will take away dogs and not bring them back,” he said.
M. Malathi, Srujana Rao and K. Mallikarjun of Malkajgiri had a different version. “The GHMC is taking away stray dogs from our area and killing them. Several dogs have disappeared. GHMC is pocketing money in the name of conducting sterilisation operations,” they said. A senior member of the dog-capturing squad said none of them demand money. “There are some young guys in our teams who accept tea-money if given. These allegations are generally made by citizens based on hearsay. Nowadays, there are dog lovers in almost every street and by-lane, who keep the dog count,” he said.
The GHMC’s chief veterinary officer has appealed to citizens not to pay money to the dog-capturing team as they are paid a monthly honorarium of Rs 6,700. “All citizens should know that as per rules, dogs cannot be killed unless they are certified as rabid or severely ill by veterinary doctors,” he said.