‘Pied piper’ demands Rs 20 cr

Srinagar, Mar 13: The “pied piper” dream of driving the one lakh canines out of Srinagar has suffered a hit after the dog charmer roped in by the administration demanded a whopping Rs 20 crore for his services.
 “The negotiations with Khurshid Ahmad Mir who had claimed that he can drive away the dogs from the city have failed as he has demanded outrageous charges for his services,” Aamir Ali, public relations officer of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, told PTI.
 He said Mir was demanding Rs 30 lakh each for the 68 wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation where the population of stray dogs has crossed one lakh and have been causing problems to the humans.
 More than 5000 dog bite cases have been reported in the city since January last year with some of the cases turning fatal.
 Aamir Ali said the administration was willing to allow Mir, a resident of downtown Srinagar, to use his skills for driving away the dogs without interfering in his work, but the exorbitant charges have forced the authorities to call off the deal.
 Last month, the authorities had decided to use services of Mir for getting rid of the dog menace as long as he did not harm or kill the canines.
 The administration has now decided to push forward the sterilisation process of male dogs to check the growing number of canines in the city. However, the SMC has so far failed in initiating the dog catching programme.
 Two staffers of the SMC have been sent for specialised training for catching dogs and they are expected to train other staff before launching the sterilisation programme.
 The government has also announced a special incentive of Rs 50 per male dog caught by the SMC staff for sterilisation but even the monetary inducement has not generated any enthusiasm so far.
 The animal welfare centre at Tangpora in the city, which has the capacity of sterilising 50 dogs per day, was made operational late last month.