Ludhiana: The municipal corporation is awaiting directives from the local bodies department before implementing the recent Supreme Court order to remove stray dogs from key public places. While animal birth control measures are ongoing and a specialised sanctuary for sick dogs is already operational, civic officials stated that a comprehensive strategy, including fresh land identification for new dog shelters, is required to comply with the judicial mandates.Assistant commissioner Jasdev Sekhon clarified that the apex court’s guidelines specifically mandate lifting stray dogs from high-traffic public zones—such as hospitals, markets, and govt offices—rather than residential neighborhoods. Once cleared and sterilised, these dogs must be housed in dedicated shelters. However, the civic body cannot finalise infrastructure plans until a comprehensive survey is conducted to determine the exact number of stray dogs currently roaming the city.The lack of a formal dog census has emerged as a major bottleneck for Ludhiana’s Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme. Despite the civic body sterilising over one lakh dogs over the past 11 years, local residents report little to no visible impact on the ground, with canine populations and related public grievances remaining consistently high.Finding appropriate land for the proposed shelters presents an administrative challenge, as the facilities must be located far from human populations to avoid noise disturbances. Officials initially considered a site near the Jamalpur garbage dump, but discarded the idea due to unhygienic conditions harmful to the animals. Past friction over localised feeding zones indicates strong community resistance to having any canine facilities near residential areas or colonies.
