Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will soon begin the process of registering dog feeders and identifying designated feeding spots in line with Supreme Court directives, Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari announced on Saturday. He said this step is necessary to reduce growing conflicts between residents and feeders while ensuring that stray dogs are cared for responsibly.The announcement came during a high-level coordination meeting at Police Bhavan, chaired jointly by Commissioner of Police Ravinder Singal and Chaudhari, which was attended by the district collector, senior officers of the animal husbandry department, civic officials, NGOs, animal welfare organizations, and concerned citizens. The meeting was convened in view of recent court rulings and rising incidents of dog-bite cases in the city.Police Commissioner Singal emphasized that any intervention must remain strictly within the legal framework. “Our aim is to reduce conflict situations, ensure compliance with law, and protect both citizens and animals,” he said. Officers, he added, will undergo training programmes to better handle stray dog-related issues in accordance with existing statutes.Singal highlighted Section 44 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, which empowers cops to detain, sell, or destroy stray dogs found without muzzles or identification. However, he said this provision must be carefully applied in conjunction with rules and subject to judicial scrutiny. “Police and civic officers must not only act within the law but also be trained to handle these sensitive issues with balance and care,” he noted.The NMC is upgrading dog-catching vans and shelter facilities to strengthen ground-level interventions. Chaudhari announced that a state-of-the-art animal care centre modelled on Bengaluru’s facility will be constructed at a cost of Rs7–8 crore, with work orders to be issued within 10 days. Once completed, the centre will be handed over to a reputed NGO for scientific management.Vaccination, a critical gap in city’s dog management system, was also flagged. Chaudhari admitted that while NMC vaccinates 5,000–10,000 dogs annually, the coverage remains inadequate. To bridge this gap, NMC plans to set up permanent vaccination centres at its premises, alongside ensuring wider availability of anti-rabies vaccines at municipal hospitals in addition to state-run facilities.The civic chief also stressed that the issue cannot be tackled by NMC or the police alone. “Only a multi-pronged approach can work—stray dog numbers must be controlled through sterilization, vaccination must be expanded, and citizens need to be involved in awareness campaigns,” he said.The meeting concluded with broad consensus that a lawful, humane, and collaborative approach—covering regulation of feeding practices, vaccination drives, and scientific management of shelters—is the only sustainable way to address the growing stray dog menace in Nagpur.
