New Delhi [India], August 11 : In response to the Supreme Court's directive to relocate all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters within eight weeks, BJP leader and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi on Monday termed the order "not doable" and "a very strange judgment given in anger."
"It is not a doable order... This is a very strange judgment given by someone who is in anger. Angry judgments are never sensible...", Maneka Gandhi told ANI.
Further, Maneka Gandhi warned of massive logistical, financial, and social challenges, including the absence of government-run shelters, the need for thousands of new facilities, and the potential for street clashes between authorities and dog feeders.
"There is no single government-run shelter in Delhi. In how many shelters would you put three lakh dogs? You don't even have one. To make those shelters, you have to spend at least Rs 15 thousand crore... You'll have to find 3000 places for shelters in places where no one lives. How will you find these many places?... This can't be done in two months... You'll have to employ 1.5 lakh people to just be sanitation workers, which will again cost crores..." she said.
"Firstly, when they go to get the dogs, there will be fighting in every street because feeders are not going to let the dogs go. Every day, there will be fights. Do we want this destabilisation situation? Other political parties will get into it to attack the BJP... When the dogs from here are displaced, dogs from nearby states will come to Delhi, as there will be more food here. Then, within a week, there will be another three lakh dogs in Delhi, and these will not be sterilised. Then will you start another sterilisation programme and spend hundreds of crores again?..." the BJP leader warned.
Meanwhile, another Animal Rights Activist, Gauri Maulekhi, expressed sadness over the incident and stated that it will affect 10 lakh animals. She said that the order will be challenged, noting that the existing shelters in the country are run only by NGOs and private bodies.
"This order, which will affect 10 lakh animals, is very sad. The Supreme Court is overruling the codified law without hearing the other side. This order will be challenged. The existing shelters in the country are run only by NGOs and private bodies. The court did not even consider the consequences of the sudden removal of stray dogs. We should have made Delhi an example of animal birth control centres", she said.
Earlier today, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said that all localities should be made free of stray dogs and there should not be any compromise. It also made it clear that no captured animal will be released back on the streets.
It also ordered contempt proceedings against any individual or organisation that attempts to obstruct the authorities from carrying out the capture drive."If any individual or organisation comes in the way of picking stray dogs or rounding them up, we will proceed to take action against any such resistance," said Justice Pardiwala.
The apex court also directed the states and municipal authorities to create dog shelters with sufficient staff to sterilise and immunise them.
"NCT Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, MCD, NMDC shall start picking up stray dogs from all localities, particularly from more vulnerable localities. It is for the authorities to look into and if they have to create a force, do it at the earliest. However, this should be the first and foremost exercise to make all localities free of stray dogs. There should not be any compromise in undertaking the exercise," said the bench.