The Ghaziabad municipal corporation in its meeting held on 17th February 2020 took two  very crucial decisions which are pro animal and pro environment. These are the decisions which the corporation should have taken long back. But better late than never. 

The two important decisions are:

1 Open three more Sterilization centres in Ghaziabad. At present there is only one Sterilization centre in Ghaziabad. With the growing population of stray dogs it is very important that more centres are open. 

2 Development of a city forest of 28 acres. 

With growing deforestation and urbanisation the cities in India are facing air pollution and animal man conflict. 

These two decisions are a ray of hope to the environmentalists and animal lovers in India. India just cannot afford to have urbanisation and development at the cost of its green area and animal life. 

However, the Ghaziabad Municipal.Corporation  needs to take some concrete steps if they want the ABC (animal birth control) programme to be implemented successfully in their region and to actually curtail the stray dog population and reduce the Man-Dog conflict in their area which unfortunately has blown out of proportion.

1 Entrust regions / zones to each Sterilization centres. And inform this to every RWA / caregivers. Share the numbers of the sterilisation centre with every RWA / caregivers so that they can directly talk to the Sterilization centres and get the dogs picked with minimum pain and torture.Encourage caregivers to help the corporation in getting the dogs caught for Sterilization. 

2 It would be quite beneficial if the same people (dog vans) are used for picking and dropping the dogs. This way wrong drop will not happen and the dog would not be traumatised. This will also ensure that dogs are not dropped anywhere else even by mistake.

2 Ask every RWA to display the dog rules 2001 on their notice boards. This would help  every resident to know that relocation or removing dogs from their area is a punishable offence. Once they know the rules they would know that they have to learn to live with the dogs as they have no other choice. 

3 Symbol of a sterilized dog  (notched ear) should be put up at public places like markets, bus stands and parks and people should be encouraged to help the corporation in getting the dogs sterilized.

4 No feeding boards and no entry of dogs in parks should be immediately removed if they have been  been put up by the  RWAs or  any other authority anywhere in Ghaziabad.

5 The Sterilization centres should strictly follow the protocols so that no dog dies due to faulty operation, infection or lack of post operative care. 

6 Rabies vaccination of dogs with the help of caregivers may be organized every year in every colony. This will make the colonies canine rabies free. Also this may be accompanied with workshops on rabies and how to avoid dogs biting etc may be organized. The corporation can do it in schools and colleges as it is generally children who fear dogs the most due to wrong parenting and lack of awareness about dog behaviour.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation has been implementing the ABC programme from ages but the impact of it is not hidden from the world. The simple reason is that it's not being done in a systematic and planned manner. 

We hope the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation won't make the same mistakes which the other corporations in India have been making.

While making policies and implementing them just keep in mind that India is a developing country and there is still a large population which lives below poverty line.........

Hence, every rupee spent of the tax payers money should be spent rightly. Whether it be on the ABC programme or on the development of the city forest....