Parties, citizens want Mayor Gadwal to submit resignation

HYDERABAD: There are at least 89 stray dogs per km, according to a rough calculation that compares the number of stray dogs in the city to the number of kilometres. The civic authority recently conducted a survey that found over eight lakh stray dogs in the city yet, on paper, the nodal agency has been managing to neuter only 60,000 to 70,000 stray dogs per year with a Rs 18 crore budget, sources claimed. Accusing the corporation of swindling over Rs 10 crore spent in the guise of reducing the stray dog menace, corporators from all parties demanded the GHMC Mayor and commissioner's resignation. Not to be left behind, the TRS and MIM corporators who sought anonymity claimed that they receive two to three distress calls each day related to stray dog menace, and that the GHMC had failed to resolve public grievances even while over 300 stray dog related issues have been registered by the corporators. Meanwhile, MAUD special chief secretary Arvind Kumar after the review meeting with GHMC officials asked them to intensify anti-birth control measures by engaging residential welfare associations as well as by identifying areas with dense stray dog population.