New Delhi [India], August 11 : After the Supreme Court's order to relocate all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday said that Delhi citizens have been facing the issue for "quite some time" and the government will prepare a proper plan on this.
"The people of Delhi had been troubled for quite some time now on this issue. This problem had taken a formidable form and is now standing before Delhi, and providing a solution is very important. We will prepare a proper plan on this issue," Rekha Gupta told reporters.
Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Raja Iqbal Singh expressed happiness over the Supreme Court's order on the issue, stating that they will try to implement it within the next six weeks.
Singh said that Delhi has ten sterilisation centres but doesn't have shelter homes. He stated that the government will work towards establishing shelter homes, and the MCD will ensure that stray dogs do not face any problems.
"I welcome Supreme Court's order as the people of Delhi were facing a lot of problems. We will try our best to implement this order in the next six weeks. We don't have shelter homes, but we have 10 operational sterilisation centres. We can make temporary and permanent shelter homes. MCD and the Delhi government will ensure that no one faces problems due to stray dogs. We will make an action plan after holding meetings with our officers," Raja Iqbal Singh told ANI.
Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra also reiterated the government's stance on the issue, mentioning that they are committed towards the welfare of the street dogs.
He criticised the previous state governments for neglecting the issue, which has become a serious problem in the present time.
"We are committed to the welfare of homeless animals. Today's Supreme Court decision will help remove the obstacles in our path. For many years, the Delhi government has not paid attention to this issue. Today, it has become a serious problem. We will implement the Supreme Court's decision in a time-bound manner, keeping the spirit of kindness, compassion, and humanity in mind," Kapil Mishra said.
The Supreme Court on Monday took a stern view of the stray dog menace and ordered the Delhi-NCR to start removing stray dogs from all localities within eight weeks and house them in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities.
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.