BANGALORE: The BBMP seems to be falling short on it’s duties outlined in the Centre’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The Palike has failed to allot funds to NGOs that conduct animal birth control (ABC) and anti-rabies vaccinations (ARV) on street dogs on behalf of BBMP. One of Bangalore’s oldest animal welfare group, Karuna Animal Welfare Organisation, has not received funds for the past six months for the ABC and ARV drives. Karuna has performed around 3,379 ABC operations and around 6,362 dog vaccination during the year 2011-12.“We have not received funds to the extent of `9 lakh for the last six months. We carry on the activity with public funds. Any negligence would amount to violation of the duties outlined in the Central government’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. So, despite shortage of funds, we continue our activity,” secretary of Karuna Animal Welfare Association of Karnataka N Sudheer Kumar said. In 2010-11, the funds allotted for the ABC programme was `5 crore, which is equal to the amount BBMP spent for five years on the programme .If the NGOs do not carry on with the ABC and ARV programmes, the dog bite cases in the city might increase, which seem to be under control to a large extent over the years. A report by the animal husbandry department says that in 2003-2004 it registered 32,000 dog bites and after adopting ABC measures, the dog bite numbers reduced to 24,120 in 2010-2011. Twenty deaths due to rabies infected dog bites were reported in 2001-2002, which has come down to one in 2010- 2011. However, the Joint Director to (Animal Husbandry) Dr Parvez Ahmed Piran of BBMP, said the delay in clearing the bills was not intentional and it would be cleared in a month’s time.
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