The Hindu              14.02.2014

Anita elected Mayor of CMC

Correspondent

Naveen announces her name for the coveted post

BJD corporator Anita Behera of Upper Telengabazar of the city on Thursday was elected unopposed as Mayor of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). The 37-year-old housewife, having two daughters, was elected as a corporator from the Ward No. 21 in the elections held last week.

A Plus II dropout, Anita is a native of Athgarh area of the district and studied in various schools of Dhenkanal district. Marrying Narendra Behera, a businessman in the city, Anita has been staying here for over a decade now.

The election of Anita became a mere formality after the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced her name for the post this morning. The ruling party won 36 seats in the 59-ward council.

Since the post of Mayor in the city was reserved for the Scheduled Caste woman and there are only four SC women in the council (all four of them are from BJD), no other candidate opposed Anita’s candidature and she was declared elected to the coveted post unopposed.

In fact, Anita became the second woman Mayor of the city. Nibedita Pradhan of BJP became the first Mayor and also the first woman Mayor of the city in 2003 after the Saffron party had formed the council of the CMC in alliance with the BJD.

Coincidentally, Anita won from Ward No. 21 this time and her predecessor S.K Ghosh also won from the Ward No. 21 during the 2009 elections but the areas under it were different. More interestingly, Ghosh had won from the same area which was earlier represented by his predecessor Nibedita Pradhan in 2003 elections.

In a three-cornered contest this time in Ward No 21, Anita won by defeating her nearest rival Padmini Behera of BJP by a margin of 574 votes. While Anita had polled 1,603 votes, Padmini got 1,029 votes. Other contender of the ward Sabita Naik of Congress managed to poll only 953 votes.

Felicitated

Earlier in the day, all the 59 elected corporators were felicitated by CMC Commissioner Gyana anjan Das who also administered the oath of office. After assuming charge as Mayor, Behera told the waiting media persons that she would work sincerely for development of the city. The election for the post of Deputy Mayor is scheduled on March 1.

The Hindu              14.02.2014

South Delhi to get 32 new vans to impound stray dogs

Staff Reporter

4,600 cases of dog bites registered at SDMC hospitals in 2013

Tired of waiting for years to get land for setting up a hospital dedicated to dogs, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Wednesday announced that 32 new vans would be procured to impound, immunise and sterilise stray dogs.

“There were approximately 4,600 cases of dog bites registered at SDMC hospitals in 2013,” SDMC spokesperson Mukesh Yadav said.

The Leader of the House in the SDMC, Subhash Arya, said: “We are not getting land from the the Delhi Development Authority to establish a dog hospital, so we are engaging vans to solve the problem of stray dogs.”

“We have been waiting to get land for three to four years, so now we’ve come up with an alternative solution,” explained Mr. Yadav.

The project is likely to get a Rs.5-crore allocation in the civic body’s budget, which will be announced on Friday, said Mr. Yadav.

Through the allocation in the 2014-2015 budget, the civic body aims to sterilise 1,30,000 dogs.

Mr. Arya said 24 vans will be put into service to impound stray dogs and eight more will be equipped with facilities for immunising and sterilising them.

After immunisation and sterilisation, the dogs will be released back to the spot from where they were picked up, added Mr. Arya.

Meanwhile, PETA India CEO Poorva Joshipura said: “There are millions of stray dogs struggling to survive on Indian streets. Many of these animals go hungry, are hit by cars, illegally poisoned or abused by cruel people in other ways.”

Ms. Joshipura explained that sterilised dogs live healthier lives and are less likely to bite.

“PETA supports effective and humane sterilisation efforts, in which the dogs are handled with kindness and after sterilisation returned to where they were found,” added Ms. Joshipura.