File picture of a dog squad member in action in Cuttack

Cuttack, March 13: The municipal corporation has drawn flak for not being able to check stray dog menace in the city.

The sterilisation drive that had started at the only centre in Sartol stopped five months ago and has not resumed. The drive stopped after cyclone Phailin had damaged the kennels at the centre.

The agreement of Mahila Vikas Samiti, the local NGO carrying out the population control programme on behalf of the civic body, has also expired. The NGO used to charge Rs 445 to sterilise each dog under the programme.

“Over the past month, the stray dogs have attacked many people in our locality. Despite several complaints, the civic body has done nothing,” said Diwan Bazar resident Sudharkar Das.

“We do not feel safe on the streets at night because of the rise in the stray dog population. A motorist was recently injured when he was being chased by dogs near Sati Choura,” said CDA resident Dilip Swain.

City health officer P.K. Pradhan said steps were being taken to resume the sterilisation programme at the earliest.

“We have decided to extend the contract with the NGO till a new agreement is signed by June,” said Pradhan, adding that proposals had been made to repair the kennels at the dog sterilisation centre.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation had launched the drive to control the population of stray dogs in 2004. So far, over 19,000 stray dogs have been sterilised. Official estimates put the population of stray dogs at 40,000 in the corporation area.

A corporation official said plans had been made to upgrade the existing infrastructure to intensify dog sterilisation by constructing a new dog pound on the veterinary hospital premises at Buxi Bazar.

Once the new pound with 20 kennels and an operation theatre is ready, the dog sterilisation drive could be intensified.