The Times of India               09.12.2013

Civic body postpones first dog census in Nashik

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) that was to conduct its first dog census in the city after the monsoon has postponed it indefinitely due to lack of technical manpower.

In August, the NMC's veterinary department had decided to conduct the census. The NMC would have been the first municipal corporation in the state to have conducted the dog census. A letter sent by the Animal Welfare Board (AWB) to the NMC's veterinary department in mid-July instructed the department to carry out the census every two years.

The census was to be done with help from a non-governmental organization (NGO). For this purpose, the civic body contacted Sharan - a shelter for animals. The NGO is recognized by AWB.

The board had also directed the NMC to carry out the census in alternate wards. Each ward is to be covered in one hour.

However, the census was postponed indefinitely as there was no written communication between the NMC and the NGO. Sharan wanted to begin with the census after the monsoon. But even after two months since the rain, the survey is yet to start.

NMC veterinary officer, Pramod Sonawane, said, "We lack manpower with technical knowledge. We will seek help from places that have conducted the census and execute it here on trial and error basis. I am positive about it and we will definitely do it."

Sonawane said that the civic body was still unsure about the number of people required to conduct the procedure.

Sharanya Shetty, the founder of Sharan, said, "The NMC did not show any interest after the initial discussions, so we started doing it on our own on trial basis for our records."

NGO starts dog census on trial basis

The NGO - Sharan has started the dog census for its record on trial basis from Sunday.

Sharanya Shetty, the NGO's founder, said "We started counting dogs and taking photographic record in areas like Vise Mala, Yeolekar Mala, Krishinagar and the surrounding areas with help from eight volunteers. Two teams carried out the process on Sunday and started marking dogs in a gap of couple of hours. We will repeat the process in the same area after two days. The photographs mention the date and the time which makes it easy for us to count the dogs. It is a tried and tested method."

The Hindu                09.12.2013

A small, clean and green colony

With a population of over 10 lakh and a huge number of people coming every day either for livelihood or other works, keeping the city clean is obviously a formidable task but there are some colonies which are able to give a tidy look, thanks to the special sanitation drive conducted by Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC).

Here is one such small and neatly-maintained colony situated opposite Auto Nagar Gate in Patamata that’s envy for other habitations. It is Lakshmipathi Nagar, one of the 18 out of 250-plus colonies which were declared ‘litter-free’ by the VMC last year that still maintains a ‘clean track record’.

The colony is almost three-and-a-half decades old and is largely inhabited by employees and a sizable number of businessmen. For its cleanliness, it was declared as litter-free and awarded a certificate of appreciation in August 2012 by the then Municipal Commissioner Abdul Azeem.

Lot of greenery

Lakshmipathi Nagar has only one main road flanked on either side by those of Bapuji Nagar and J.D. Nagar and it has a lot of greenery thanks to the keen interest evinced by residents and their welfare association (Lakshmipathi Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association).

“We have nearly 200 households, a reasonably well-maintained underground drainage system and drinking water facility, but have no common facility area where a park, a library or other such utility can be developed. We are looking for a vacant piece of land for that purpose”, said Association officer-bearers M. Lingeswara Rao (president), B. Ch. Venkata Reddy (secretary) and V. Ravi Kumar (treasurer).

Helping them in the work are P.V.S. Kumar, M. Lakshman Rao, S. Papa Rao (former presidents) and D. Padmaja (executive member).

The colony is otherwise a happy place to live in, situated as it is very close to Patama Centre and Benz Circle. The land on which the colony came up was owned by a landlord, Lakshmipathi Muppavarapu. It has since been developed into a good residential locality. The focus is always on sanitation and the result of it is there to be seen and emulated elsewhere.