The Hindu      22.12.2010

CHANDIGARH: With municipal corporation and area councillors not being able to solve the long-standing problem of nearly 8,000 stray canines across the city, residents have been living under constant fear of being bitten whenever they venture out of their houses.

A posh locality in Sector 36 is a perfect example of this with a large
group of stray canines having occupied a large area of a garden there in
front of houses in such a way that children and females are finding it
impossible to venture out. Among these panicked residents have been a
mother-son duo of Sonia and Divyanshu. So terrorised is the six-year-old
by constant chasing by a group of stray animal inside the Fragrance
Garden this Thursday evening that it took his family members
half-an-hour to console him. Speaking to TOI, the terrified child’s
father, Ravinder Saini said, “More than two dozen stray dogs have been
roaming fearlessly in their locality for a long time now.”

Another resident Harjit Singh said, “Roads in front of our houses are
usually crowded with canines throughout the day female family members
and children happen to be soft targets of these ferocious animals.”
Staying there as a paying guests, Ramya Abrol said, “Presence of a large
number of canines in the garden and on the road in front of our house
presents such a panicky picture that we sometimes even do not dare to go
to the nearby small Verka booth to buy daily-use items.”

Chandigarh has about 8,000 stray dogs roaming freely in the city.
Despite repeated attempts by the civic authorities to sterilise dogs,
the situation refuses to be sorted out. Interestingly, area councillor
Surinder Kumar Jagota expressed inability to sort out the matter,
saying, “As we can’t kill these rampaging dogs, the situation continues
to grow from bad to worse.”