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Kochi Corporation's ABC unit fails to achieve target

Set up in 2015, the ABC unit aimed at sterilizing all strays in the city limits within a couple of years.

KOCHI: Kochi Corporation’s modern veterinary hospital with animal birth control unit for dogs, the first of its kind initiated by any local body in the state, has failed to achieve its target. Set up in 2015, the ABC unit aimed at sterilizing all strays in the city limits within a couple of years. Though 2,000 strays were sterilized during the first year, the project got slowed down due to various factors. Now, after completing more than two years the total number of sterilized strays stood at 3,648.

As per an earlier statistics, the city has nearly 20,000 strays, with their number increasing rapidly. The ABC unit set up at a cost of '90 lakh has the facility to sterilize 10 to 12 dogs daily. But, due to shortage of staff, only two or three strays are being sterilized now. If a minimum number of dogs are not sterilized every day, their number cannot be controlled in the city, experts point out. Corporation Development Committee chairperson Grace Joseph told DC that only two doctors, on contract basis, are serving at the hospital now.

“The two doctors from Animal Husbandry Department deputed by the state government were called back. The Corporation has submitted several requests to the government for appointing two permanent doctors. But nothing has happened.” “ABC unit is a role model for other local bodies in the state and is a prestigious project of the Corporation and we will not let it to be a failure," she added.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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