Was deputy director of animal husbandry dept of the BBMP's response to why most dog attacks only happen to children of poor families
Was deputy director of animal husbandry dept of the BBMP's response to why most dog attacks only happen to children of poor families
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With the number of fatal dog attack cases increasing in the city, the BBMP believes it is making the right noises by issuing compensations to the victim's family. However, with another case of a four-year-old dog-bite victim battling for life at a city hospital coming to light, a shocking modus operandi of the BBMP has come to light.
Over Rs 20 lakh has been awarded as compensations by the BBMP over the last three months. Of this, about Rs 7 lakh has been given to families of victims of stray dog attacks and deaths.
Soft target: Renuka (green top), who was attacked by a pack of stray
dogs, with her mother (right) at Ranka Colony, Bilekahalli, on
Bannerghatta Road yesterday. Pic/Ramesh H S
Simply shocking
While BBMP officials were caught off guard by these figures, the deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department of the BBMP made a shocking statement. Responding to questions about why stray dogs only attack children of poor families, he said, "Poor families are greedy and the compensation motivates them. They are up to some mischief and in most of the dog mauling cases, the dog attack is not the reason for the death of the child. So either the parents are not responsible enough to take care of their infants, or they are plain greedy for compensation money," said Pervez Ahmed Peeran, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department (BBMP).
Watch dogs?
Peeran further argued that over Rs 5 crore would have to be spent by the department to eradicate the problem. "I do not have a magic wand, with which I was cast a spell and do away with all the stray dogs in the city. Without these stray dogs on the city streets, the number of rats will increase, leading to plague," he said. He also added that chain snatching cases could rise further along with robberies, and the garbage problem will also increase.
When questioned about the increase in the compensations that are being awarded, in most cases even without going through the post mortem reports -- Mayor R Sharadamma claimed that she has to award compensations to keep the families quiet.
"We have awarded compensations to all victims' families so that they get to know that the BBMP too is not taking things lightly," she said.
No choice?
However, when questioned about the loss caused to the state exchequer, as a result of careless distribution of compensation, she said, "We have to do it. There are so many accidents happening." Meanwhile, revealing a gross mismanagement of funds within the BBMP itself, Peeran said, "It is the tax payer's money. The higher authorities do not even cross check and they randomly announce compensations. They should do their
homework before making such announcements."
Still on hold?
To implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Act, as directed by the Supreme Court in 2001, the BBMP would have to spend around Rs 5 crore. However, ten years have passed and over 98 wards in the city do not come under the ABC acts. The corporation is so busy managing internal affairs that they have no account of the losses their department is causing to the state exchequer.
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