The Govt. of Goa has two very good schemes to tackle the stray animals moving freely in our village/city roads as though our State is holding a State animal festival to attract more tourists to Goa for the road show exhibition.
The second scheme is the small animal scheme. NGOs are doing amazing work in rescuing accident involved injured animals from the Goan roads.
Under the Panchayat Raj Act 1994 Section 112, every Panchayat is required to have a cattle pound but sadly local bodies ignore this or do not allow NGOs by forwarding their application to the Dept. of Animal Husbandry, which is entrusted with the distribution of funds.
Apart from this scheme each Panchayat has a provision for disposal of unclaimed dead animals as owners do not come to claim the dead animal. There is no proper procedure laid down to document and claim the money. Mere submission of voucher by claimants on Panch’s recommendation without the certification of the Veterinary officer, the local body should not disburse the money. I have checked the audited record of my Panchayat. There is escalation of money spent on disposal of dead animals. This only proves that there is rise in dead animals due to accidents, diseases or poisoning.
Animals are also known to be carriers of diseases which could be harmful to the citizens of the state. If proper data collected from the disposal authority i.e is the Panchayat will help the concerned department to study the situation and be ready to check any outbreak of diseases. Few people are also consumers of the animal meat which is slaughtered and sold in the village bazaar or market stall without any approval from FDA department. If contaminated meat is sold and purchased by the consumer then there could be a major calamity.
The Directorate of Panchayat should look into the matter and give directions for speedy implementation of the schemes. I also request him to introduce a proper procedure similar to that envisaged in the small animal schemes assistance pattern clause (g) and a photograph to be made mandatory for disposal of dead animals and save the misuse of exchequers money. The Department may also identify a burial ground for disposal of such animals. This may be a tall task but it is required for the safety of the public.
