Stray dogs may get a Rs 19 Cr tower

Stray Dogs – Navi Mumbai

Source – Midday, July 30, 2004

Stray dogs may get a Rs 19 Cr tower By: Rajendra Aklekar
July 30, 2004

Mid-day

A Rs 19-crore swanky building, called the Twin Towers in Navi Mumbai, may soon house stray dogs. That is if the proposal tabled by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) chief medical officer Dr Sanjay Pattiwar is cleared.

The Twin towers bought by NMMC for its headquarters in 2000, but unused so far, will be used to house stray dogs during sterilisation.

NMMC says the decision to convert the two 19-crore buildings into a makeshift quarantine has been taken as there is no other place available. Says Dr Pattiwar, “The sterilisation of stray dogs has suffered a setback as there is no permanent, large space in which we can sterilise them. The twin towers are not being used right now, so it is good utilisation of space.”
The NMMC’s sterilisation centre in Vashi, run in coordination with the organisation, Welfare Of Stray Dogs, has been shut for a while due to lack of funds.

According to a health department report, Navi Mumbai has a stray dog population of more than 40,000 with an average of 500 dog bite cases per month.

The Twin towers

In 2000, the then municipal commissioner Mukesh Khullar, had acquired two eight-storey buildings built by CIDCO for Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). The buildings had been lying vacant since then. Khullar was transferred to Mantralaya and Sunil Soni took over as commissioner. A few corporators then suggested that the NMMC should specially build its headquarters in keeping with its image as a ‘city of the 21st century’ and should not buy buildings. So, the proposal was rejected and the buildings have been lying vacant since.

Voices

The NMMC should have done something about the dog problem. There are a lot of stray dogs and no one is doing anything. I do not know what the NMMC is going to do to help solve the problem, but there should be some action, which will permanently fix the problem once and for all.
Dipak Panchal, Aashirwad CHS, Sector 19, Nerul

The number of dogs are increasing rapidly in Sector 11. In the night, it is very difficult to drive on the roads as dogs jump on the vehicle and try and attack. And they are smart too. The moment they see the municipal van, they disappear and municipal workers say that they did not find any dogs.
Karjikar Mohammed Ali, resident of Mermaid, Sector 11, CBD