The project passed by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) which called for creating a corral for controlling the stray dog menace in the city has been dumped. On top of the issue, many officials of the corporation have no idea about the project. As per information, while presenting the budget of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2014, an amount of Rs 1 crore was allocated for the development of a corral to control stray dog menace in the city. At that time, the project was deemed as a unique initiative to control the menace of stray dogs in the city. As of now, the corporation is now operating three Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centers at Adampur, Arbelia and Kajlikheda, which as reported by ‘The Hitavada’, are insufficient to the demand of the time. Significantly, it was further learnt that there were land acquisition problems in this case. The matter also invited an intervention from the High Court. After the intervention, when the situation was reportedly not in favour of the corporation, the project was called off. Many of the officials have chosen not to speak much on the topic citing that they were not in the corporation when the project was announced. They also seem reluctant to talk of the officials who might possess some knowledge over the issue. When ‘The Hitavada’ contacted the concerned officials for tracking the status of the project, many of them were unaware or lacked information about the project, citing that “it’s an old project”. Seeking anonymity, an official in the corporation said that the project was not built.

 

Additional Commissioner (ADC) Ranbir Kumar at BMC, said that the project was not completed due to unknown reasons. When asked about the reasons, Kumar said that he was not aware of the reasons since he was not in the corporation during that time. “The project was passed by the corporation in 2014. It was cancelled due to a dispute over land acquisition following the directions of the High Court on the land matter. Much can’t be said on the issue as much time has passed since the project was announced. An in-principal sum of Rs 1 crore was announced for the project. BMC is operating three Animal Birth Control (ABC) centers in the city at Arbelia, Kajlikheda and Adampur for combating the dog problem,” R K Singh Baghel, member of the Mayor-in-Council (MIC) told ‘The Hitavada’.