Bengaluru: Following the Supreme Court directive to identify, remove, and relocate stray dogs from institutional areas, three of Bengaluru’s five city corporations have only released partial data on the number of dogs found in such premises.Central, North, and West city corporations have reported 504, 875, and 591 stray dogs, respectively, in areas such as educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, and stadiums, as well as bus stands, depots, and railway stations. South and East corporations have reported 331 and 369 dogs, respectively, at institutions. This takes the total number of dogs in institutional areas in Bengaluru to 2,670.However, concerns have been raised over the accuracy and completeness of the data. East and South corporations haven’t officially released the number of stray dogs. South corporation has only released details of institutions and nodal officers, while East has only released the details of junior health inspectors in charge of each ward. In the West corporation list, hundreds of institutions have not reported the number of stray dogs. In North corporation limits, the expansive GKVK campus has reported no stray dogs — an assertion that appears inconsistent with ground realities. Similarly, Central corporation’s data does not include the Central College campus.According to the chief veterinary officer of Bengaluru Central City Corporation, MH Reddy, nodal officers from institutions were assisted by staff from the health and revenue departments during the survey. “Since the current data reflects a survey conducted nearly three months ago, a review will be undertaken shortly,” he said. The infrastructure for relocating dogs is still being developed. A senior Central corporation official said 5 acres of land have been allocated in Bingipura, near Anekal, for a shelter with a capacity of 500 dogs. The facility, estimated to cost Rs 2 crore, is under construction. “We invited tenders from NGOs to manage the shelter but received no response. The process has now been initiated again,” he added. In North corporation limits, two shelters are planned. While construction has commenced in Medarahalli, the Dasarahalli project is yet to be finalised, according to chief veterinary officer Sunil Kumar Havanur. West corporation has identified Summanahalli as the site for its proposed dog shelter. No supervising powersOn the low numbers reported by some large institutions, GBA’s deputy director (animal husbandry) T Chandraiah said, “Some institutions might have taken a decision to build their own shelters for dogs and might have reported the numbers accordingly. We only consolidate the data given by the corporations and submit it to the court. GBA’s animal husbandry department has no overseeing powers to direct the corporations on how the surveys are conducted.”
