Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation is about to tackle the increasing dog menace, as it has promised to arrange two more veterinary doctors and two surgical assistants to carry out the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme.

In the Corporation council meeting held on Saturday, Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha said that this was decided at a meeting convened by the district veterinary officer the other day.

After the only veterinary surgeon in the Corporation retired in last March, the Corporation had to wait to get another veterinary surgeon and later when the slaughter house at Kunnukuzhy closed, the veterinary doctor there too joined the dog squad. The insufficient number of surgeons badly affected the ABC programme.

The dog squad’s only vehicle was under repair often. Now the Corporation is moving ahead to arrange one more vehicle to catch dogs. It has been identified that more than one lakh stray dogs are roaming in the city and the number of female dogs are more.

When complaints from those who became victims  of the dog attacks increased, the Corporation conducted a drive the other day in Thirumala and caught 10 dogs together.

Pushpalatha also told the council that the drive would be extended to Pettah and PMG Junction in the city to catch more dogs in the coming days. Health and Sanitation Committees in the wards would also be convened to chalk out an action plan to deal with the dog menace at the ward- level.

About 900 students and traders participated in a drive to clean K R Market to mark the 60th birthday celebrations of spiritual leader Mata Amrithanandamayi here on Sunday.

The event was organised by the Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram as part of the Amala Baratham programme.

The students swept the market and loaded rotten vegetables and fruits to lorries. Within a few hours, the garbage that was littering all over the market was cleaned and disposed of in accordance with the norms.

Lokayukta Y Baskhar Rao and BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana visited the market to supervise the cleaning works. The Lokayukta praised the students for their enthusiasm and asked the traders to keep the market clean. Lakshminarayana directed the officials concerned to improve the drainage facilities in and around the market.