Bhubaneswar: The state government, Friday, directed all the urban local bodies (ULBs) to make provision of food for stray animals in view of the hardship faced by street dogs and animals during the 14-day lockdown.
In a letter issued to all the ULBs, the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department has asked all the municipal commissioners of corporations, executive officers of municipalities to ensure implementation of the directive with immediate effect. The authorities have been asked to meet the expenditure out of the funds available with them from various sources including own revenue sources or from Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) or Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) sources.
“Due to resurgence of Covid-19 which has resulted in lockdown in state from May 5 to May 19, thousands of stray animals will have a hard time for finding food leading to starvation and other consequential issues. Therefore, it has been decided to make necessary provision of food for such animals during the lockdown,” the letter read.
As per the details of the admissibility of the expenditure, the government has fixed Rs 20,000 as per day cost for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Rs 10,000 each for the four municipal corporations of Rourkela, Sambalpur, Cuttack and Berhampur. Similarly, the government has allowed all the municipalities to spend Rs 5,000 unit cost per day while Notified Area Councils (NACs) can spend Rs 2,000 per day.
The letter also mentioned that the ULBs may co-opt or partner with voluntary organisations for animal welfare. In case of non-availability of such organisations, ULBs can proceed with the welfare work with in-house resources or Mission Shakti Groups or federations. The authorities have also been asked to involve local level officers of the Fisheries and Animal Resources department.