MISSION SAROMAYO
Integrated Street Dog Rehabilitation Programme

BOMBAY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

GET STRAYS OUT OF CITY

BMC wants all of the city's stray dogs off the streets, says it will place them in dog homes to be built on the outskirts of Mumbai
SANTOSH ANDHALE AND SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI

The BMC wants Mumbai to become a stray dog-free city. It has not only asked the Bombay High Court for permission to set up dog homes on the outskirts of Mumbai, where all strays could be shifted, but has also written to the chief minister for 50 acres of land to set up such homes.

While the corporation placed its proposal for the homes before the court in April, deputy mayor Vidya Thakur (of the BJP) on Friday dashed off a letter to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asking for 50 acres to build these homes for the city's five lakh strays. Thakur has said in her letter that strays would continue to create trouble, especially for children and elders, so long as they were allowed to roam the streets, and it was best to confine them within homes built for them.

Each dog home will house at least 10,000 strays, with a team of vets and other BMC employees stationed there full-time to look after the animals, she has said. The homes will have huge walls so that people staying in adjoining localities are not disturbed, she has added

Thakur also wants male and female strays to be placed in separate kennels in these homes, "so that breeding stops altogether and Mumbai becomes the first stray-free city in India."

According to Thakur, BMC has land at Deonar and Mulund to set up homes, but that will not be enough. Hence the demand for government land.

She has also suggested the setting up of a three-member committee comprising veterinary experts to oversee the entire plan.

Chief health executive officer at the BMC, Jayraj Thanekar said: "We are working on shifting of strays and have identified places in Deonar and Mulund for the shifting, but we will need more land to accommodate all strays." He also admitted that the corporation was thinking of separating male and female strays.