Bhubaneswar: The civic body is planning to modify a closed school located on the outskirts of the city and make it into a permanent shelter for stray dogs, officials said on Monday.Following the Supreme Court’s order in Jan on relocating all stray dogs to permanent shelters, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had been looking for a suitable plot to build such shelters and had written to the Khurda collector seeking land. “We were looking for land but we found a closed school, spread on an acre, which falls under the control of Khurda administration. Once we are given a written permission to go ahead with necessary modification, we will proceed with our plan,” said Dr Debi Prasad Kund, who oversees BMC’s animal birth control (ABC) programme.He added that the shelter will have the basic facilities for dogs.Stray dogs found near institutions and public places like bus stands, hospitals, airports, railway stations, schools, colleges and govt and private offices under BMC limits will be caught and brought to the shelters, as per the apex court’s direction.Kund said gradually in phases, they will have more shelters. “WE will have three varieties of shelters: one for 100 dogs, another for 500, and the third for 1,000, as per the SC guidelines. The dogs will be housed in shelters until their natural death. They will be provided food and treatment,” said Kund.Earlier, the ABC wing of the civic body had identified altogether 457 institutions where stray dogs were reported to be present. Out of the nearly 48,000 stray dogs in the city, BMC has so far sterilised 15,000 in special sterilisation drives.A month ago, BMC completed mass vaccination with over 35,000 dogs having received the anti-rabies vaccine in a 70-day-long intensive drive. The drive had started on March 30 and was planned for 90 days, but it was completed before the deadline.
