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.