The Punjab Government will sigh an MoU with Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), which will train veterinary teams, comprising two doctors and five paramedics in each team, for catching and managing the stray dogs, an official spokesman said here.
A decision to this effect was taken today by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a meeting with the officials of the AWBI, a statutory and advisory body to the Central Government working under the aegis of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
After the formal training, which will begin from June, the veterinary teams will be deputed in every city.
In the meeting, Badal emphasised the need for joint efforts of the local organisations and animal husbandry department to effectively check the increasing cases of dog bites, which has posed a grave threat to human lives, besides resulting in accidents on roads.
He also asked the officers to prepare an action plan in tandem with the organisers of Gau-Shalas at district levels for the proper management and care of abandoned cows in urban and rural areas.
Stray dogs have been on the prowl in many parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for the past few months, claiming two human lives recently.
A 12-year-old boy of a village in Punjab's Batala was recently mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs while he was returning from school.
Earlier, in a meeting with a farmers' delegation of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal group) here today, Badal expressed concern over enormous damage to the standing crops by the wild animals and stray dogs.
He said the state government was contemplating to chalk-out a detailed action plan to get rid of the nuisance caused by the canines and wild animals.
