TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: The Borda locality on the outskirts of Margao witnessed some anxious moments before a rabid dog, which went berserk, was captured, but not before it sunk its teeth into as many people, who landed in the Hospicio casualty. The incident has laid bare the inadequate infrastructure to deal with stray dog menace the town is facing.
According to information, Hospicio casualty received around 14-15 patients complaining of dog bites, even as a female victim was shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim with severe injuries on her arm and leg.
Hospicio doctors said there may be other patients, who have taken treatment in private hospitals.
The incident occurred Tuesday evening when the canine bit a migrant labourer when he was inside his room after effecting entry through the rear door. The dog then went berserk, biting anyone who came its way, including a fisher woman, who was attacked in a local bar when she was inside having soda. Finally, the dog catcher made his appearance and managed to capture the canine and take it to the shelter at Sonsodo, much to the relief of the residents.
The incident, however, only goes to prove that all is not well with Margao
Municipal Council’s Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme. The dog catcher made his appearance felt only after local residents made frantic calls to attend to the emergency.
Inquiries, however, revealed that the dog shelter manned by the South Goa Welfare Trust for Animals has a lone dog catcher, who doubles up as a driver and medical assistant. Says Sandra Fernandes, Trust Coordinator: “We are helpless. We have only one dog catcher, when the requirement is three. The catcher stays in Shiroda and it takes 20-30 minutes to travel back to Margao from Shiroda in times of emergencies. To tide over the problem, we had suggested three catchers, one to be posted only to attend to emergencies, but there’s no response from the civic body.”
Though the ABC programme is the prime responsibility of the local civic bodies, the Margao Municipality has virtually abdicated its duties on the pretext that it has been funding the NGO to carry out the job. Presently, the civic body pays Rs 11,000 for staff salaries and another Rs 5,000 for diesel, which the NGO claims falls short of the requirement.
Questions are being asked as to why the civic body has not engaged dog catchers, but has instead left the job to an NGO. Sadly, the Trust had been demanding up-gradation and expansion of the dog shelter with additional cages to take care of dogs after sterilisation, but their repeated pleas have failed to find favour with the city fathers and the powers that be.
