Mumbai, Aug 13 (IANS) Two days after the Supreme Court directed removal for stray dogs and putting them in shelter homes amid the rising cases of dog bites in Delhi, the Mumbai BJP unit, on Wednesday, appealed to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani to fast track the sterilisation programme, create dog shelters and move stray dogs to these shelters.

In his letter to Gagrani, BJP MLA Ameet Satam highlighted that Mumbai records an average of 70,000 dog bite cases annually.

“Around 26 per cent of dog bite cases in Maharashtra are in Mumbai alone. The BMC receives on an average 150 complaints of dog bites on its portal on a weekly basis till 2024-end. However, it has already received 10,000 complaints from January 2025 to August 2025,” he said.

MLA Satam also added that as per the World Health Organisation (WHO), actual number of rabies deaths in India for 2022 is 18,000.

Calling the situation alarming, he drew the attention of the BMC to shortage of anti-rabies vaccines in the city and increasing reports of attacks on children, senior citizens, and bikers chased by stray dogs.

“There is a dire need to fix this issue before it spirals out of control. BMC should immediately accelerate its sterilisation programme, create dog shelters, and relocate all strays in these shelters. They can be better cared for in shelters, while the move will help reduce attacks and public safety concerns,” he said.

The BJP’s decision comes on a day when the Shiv Sena-UBT, on Wednesday, supported the Supreme Court’s orders upholding the Bombay High Court’s stay on feeding pigeons and asking the municipal authorities to pick up and house all stray dogs in Delhi and parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) in dedicated shelters within eight weeks.

In the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Shiv Sena-UBT said that pigeons and stray dogs pose a threat to human health, and it is wrong to incite religious sentiments on this issue.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-UBT’s supporters took a jibe saying: “People die, dogs and pigeons live is the new mantra of life, a distortion that has emerged in the last 10 years.”

–IANS

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