KOTA: A five-year-old girl was severely injured after a stray dog attacked her in Rajasthan’s Kota on Saturday evening, with CCTV footage showing the animal knocking her down, dragging her along the street and repeatedly biting her before residents intervened.The incident took place around 7.15pm in Bengali Colony in the Chawani area when the girl, identified as Namra, was playing in a lane outside her house.The dog suddenly rushed towards her, knocked her to the ground and dragged her along the pavement before attacking her repeatedly, according to the footage. Hearing the girl’s screams, a local woman and several other residents rushed to the spot and managed to drive the animal away.Namra suffered deep wounds to her head, back and wrists and was immediately taken to hospital for treatment, PTI reported.The attack has sparked concern among residents over the stray dog menace in the area. Locals said the incident was not the first such attack in the neighbourhood, recalling that a sanitation worker had earlier also been attacked by a stray dog and suffered severe injuries to his legs.Kishan Prajapati, the representative for Ward 63, said he visited the spot after the incident, helped in taking the girl to hospital and contacted a Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC) team to capture the dog.Residents have demanded immediate action to tackle the stray dog problem rather than assurances without follow-up.KMC commissioner OP Mehra said the civic body was taking steps to address the issue, including construction of a dedicated shelter for aggressive stray dogs.“Under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program, dogs captured upon complaints are taken to the ABC centre for sterilisation and returned to the same locality after 3-4 days, strictly following Supreme Court guidelines,” Mehra said.He said there is currently no permanent shelter for aggressive stray dogs, but a dedicated facility with a capacity of 600-700 animals is being built in the Banda Dharampura area.The shelter is expected to be completed in the next seven to eight months and will be the first such facility in Rajasthan, Mehra said.The facility will permanently house aggressive stray dogs that continue to pose a threat to the public even after sterilisation.(With agency inputs)
