Hyderabad: The animal birth control (ABC) programme has finally taken off in the Secunderabad Cantonment area.

Every day 15 to 20 stray dogs are being caught for sterilisation and vaccination, according to the project officials.

Vet Animal Welfare and Rural Development Society, an NGO, is executing the ABC project in the Cantonment.

Citizens
can lodge complaints about stray dogs with the Secunderabad Cantonment
Board officials at 9490611186 between 10 am and 5 pm on working days.

Kishore
Katara of Paigah Colony said they were lots of stray dogs in his
colony. “A dog capturing squad was sent to our colony five days back. I
showed them the hideout of stray dogs. Almost 80 per cent of the dogs
were captured and taken away for sterilisation. We hope that stray dog
population will be controlled in cantonment from here on.”

Some
900 dogs have been sterilised since September 30, 2013, according to the
project officials. Radhaswamy Colony, AWHO Colony, and Venkatreddy
Colony are among those covered so far.

Cantonment Board officials
said colony welfare association presidents or office bearers must sign
in the register about the number of dogs captured. They should again
sign in the register only if an equal number of dogs are released back
in the locality after sterilisation.

“The dog capturing squad will
carry a register. An office bearer of the particular resident welfare
association or colony welfare association or even the complainant or any
one from the locality can count the number of dogs captured and sign,”
said M. Devender, SCB superintendent, Solid Waste Management, who is in
charge of the ABC project.

This procedure will ensure that the NGO
cannot inflate the figures of the number of dogs sterilised. The
Cantonment Board is paying the NGO `595 per dog for sterilisation,
vaccination and deworming.

While the dog capturing squad is active
only between 5 am and 8 am, residents said more dogs are out in packs
at night. They want the dog catching squad to come in the evenings.

Vet
Animal Welfare’s general secretary, R. Yadagiri said that sterilisation
surgeries are currently being done in a temporary operation
theatre-cum-shelter at Vempuguda near ECIL.

“The permanent
operation theatre and shelter home for dogs being constructed by the
Cantonment Board is nearing completion at Turkapally. Once this facility
is commissioned, we can sterilise nearly 40 dogs a day,” he said.