Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is sure that it will be able to stop this problem completely in the next four years. They are pulling in nongovernmental organisations to help with birth control, while it works on mass vaccination drives. They will also put coloured collars on the dogs to record the year they were marked.

Prakash Wagh, veterinary superintendent, said, “The proposal has been sent for approval to the additional commissioner. It also includes a dog census bid. If everything goes as planned, we can start implementation by the end of April and curb the menace within three-four years subsequently.”

The officials also plan to monitor operations through CCTVs which will be installed on vehicles. The entire data will be then combined and made accessible through an application that the PMC authorities are developing. The tendering duration will also be increased so that they won’t have to face the budget issue and go for retendering repeatedly.

While the officials are optimistic, the animal activists are still sceptical about the proposal. Animal activist Vineeta Tandon, while admitting that it is a welcome step, is still concerned about PMC’s approach towards strays. “They are picking up sterilised dogs and are throwing them here and there leading to an increase in bite cases. The collaring will also have to be taken on a huge scale and the vaccinations will have to be administered regularly as they work only for a year.”

Neha Panchamiya, founder of ResQ Foundation, said that a holistic approach towards the “interconnected” problems of pet and street animals, can curb the problem.

“The source of the increasing street dog population needs to be recognised based of which category of dogs has the highest fecundity and targeted for animal birth control. Unless this is tackled by conducting a proper animal population estimation study, categorising and targeting unrestricted breeding dogs for birth control as well as implementation of a quick and easy online pet registration system simultaneously, I believe we may not achieve an effective population control in the city,” she said.

Meanwhile, a corporator has written to Maneka Gandhi demanding that the laws should be amended to curb the rising incidents. Manjusha Nagpure, BJP corporator, said, “The stray dog menace is increasing. There has to be a solution from the Centre. They need to amend the law.”