The Hindu              03.07.2013 

Committee formed to decide on compensation

A committee was constituted on June 26, with the Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner as the chairperson, to
look into the compensation to be given to dog-bite victims.

This
is following the Karnataka High Court’s directive to the government to
constitute a committee with the Deputy Commissioners as chairpersons to
look into the compensation for dog-bite victims.

According
to Parvez Ahmad Piran, BBMP’s Joint Director (Animal Husbandry), the
committee under the BBMP Commissioner also has Special Commissioner
(Project), Joint Director (Animal Husbandry) and Additional/ Joint
Commissioner (Health) as members, and Chief Health Officer as the
member-secretary.

The stray dogs’ sterilisation and
anti-rabies programmes are part of the BBMP’s obligatory functions. He
said the committee would now have to meet to formulate guidelines
regarding compensation.

Mr. Piran said that the
guidelines were essential as around 50 per cent of bites were by pet
dogs. “Not all dog bites are from stray dogs. However, 90 per cent of
bites by stray dogs were because of some sort of provocation. Only rabid
dogs bite people unprovoked. While deciding on the compensation
guidelines, all these aspects will be taken into consideration,” he
said.