Mission ‘Mithi Roti’ taking care of stray dogs
| Date :30-Apr-2020 |
Staff Reporter :
Mission Mithi Roti has anchored itself in city to bail out the stray dogs from the unprecedented situation that has emerged due to outbreak of COVID-19. With city coming to standstill and closure of eateries, the street dogs that were left to fend for themselves are on brink of starvation. Realising the critical situation and need of society to ensure the stray dogs survive, Karishma Galani, a social activist working for welfare of animals, stepped-up efforts and forged a group of like minded individual to feed the dogs. As of now the Mission has is preparing 5,000 chapatis that is distributed throughout the city by its volunteers, reaching out dogs spread in various localities. Galani said she was pained at the way these dogs found themselves in a corner as people stopped moving out of city and no leftover were therefore for them.
Already at receiving end due to their adventures, especially during the odd hours that gives some tought time to motorists and two wheeler riders, the dogs suddenly were at loss to understand reason for absence of activity on streets. The silence was quite heart breaking as the dogs found that their daily feed also went missing as citizens remained confined to their homes. She especially highlighted the yeoman's service being rendered by Guru Nanak Durbar, Panchpaoli, for preparing foods to be served to the street dogs. Jasmeet Singh is co-ordinating with other volunteers and he came up with idea of mixing milk during preparation as it makes the chapatis soft and easy to digest.
Further one Kirit Joshi has donated 1,000 kgs of aata for preparing the chapatis while Vinod Ghate donated 20 kg aata. Gilani herself is footing charges of women hired for preparation of chapatis while Sudha Agrawal is donating five kg cooked rice daily and five kg of chapatis daily. The co-ordinated efforts of all these ensures that the dogs do not hungry during the lockdown period which is tough on them. Similarly, Krishna Khopde, MLA, and his son Rohit Khopde too are arranging 25 kgs of chapatis while Girish Vyas, MLC, has arranged for 10 kgs of chapatis daily for the stray dogs in city.
Galani said they are also co-ordinating with Gajendra Mahalle, Animal Husbandry Officer, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), in effective distribution of foods for the stray dogs all over the city. NMC has provided vans to ensure proper distribution of food for the street dogs. The project Mission Mithi Roti was initiated under guidance of Deepak Lalwani, Trustee, People for Animals, Galani underlined while talking to The Hitavada.
‘Loss of any specie can disturb nature’ Karishma Galani said there is role for every specie in nature and loss of any one can disturb the cycle. Hence there was urgent need to feed the street dogs as their presence is helpful in keeping rats at bay. If these dogs vanish then rats present in sewage lines would start moving out and this could trigger plague, she claimed and said their are many scientific proof to back the same. At Surat the outbreak of plague was attributed to sudden disappearance of stray dogs. The research found that steps taken by local administration to eliminate street dogs led to infestation of rats in the city resulting in the pandemic. Therefore she appealed to citizens that they should strive for survival of street dogs in their neighbourhood as it is in their large interest that they see through the lockdown period.