Rising number of rats, stray dogs irks people

Rawalpindi 

The residents of Rawalpindi have appealed to the city district government to start a campaign to kill rats and stray dogs.  They urged the concerned civic body to take a leaf out of the book of their compatriots in the city district government, Peshawar, who have fixed ‘head price’ of a rat at Rs25 to Rs300 and start a similar campaign to provide some incentives for those who kill them. 

The rats that in some instances seem bigger than cats have created a sense of fear and panic among residents of Hathi Chowk area in Saddar, Chota Bazaar, Railway Road, Gawalmandi, Ganjmandi, Sarafa Bazaar, Banni, Jamia Masjid Road, Bagh Sardaran, Raja Bazaar, Akal Gar, Mohanpura, Dhoke Hassu, Dhoke Chiragdin, Mareer Hassan, Ratta Amral area, Lalkurti, Pirwadhai, Purana Qila, Arya Muhallah and several other inner city localities. Similarly, stray dogs freely moving here in Adiala Road, Defence Road, Dhoke Juma, Asghar Mall area, Khayaban, Arya Muhallah, Jhanda Chichi, Waris Khan and several other localities creating fear and panic among residents particularly for children round the clock. 

In the past, before monsoon season civic departments had one or two firing squads to kill rats and stray dogs. The squad used to visit every locality of the city according to a schedule and used different kinds of medicines to end rats and shoot all stray dogs. Afterwards, sanitary workers lifted the dead rats and dogs and bury them outside the city. But with the passage of time, this practice has come to a halt due to lack of interest, financial problems and lack of staff in the civic bodies. 

It merits mentioning here that the cantonment boards, municipal administrations of Rawal and Potohar towns earmark ample amount of funds every year to eradicate stray dogs and rats. As the number of these animals is on the rise, so one could guess easily that funds are not utilised for the purpose properly.   The stray dogs and rats get their food from garbage dumps and these overflowing dumps are a main source of their growth. The garbage heaps spread around the city are the main source where these animals survive. The stray dogs and rodents have become very healthy by getting plenty of food from these trash piles.

Town Municipal Officer (TMO) Potohar Town Sardar Tashfeen told ‘The News’ that our teams are continuously busy to end rats and stray dogs from society to create healthy atmosphere. We would start an awareness campaign to kill rats and stray dogs from all areas before monsoon season, he assured.  Talking to ‘The News,’ residents of low-lying areas appealed to the civic authorities to address the issue immediately as rats bigger than cats freely enter our kitchen and drawing rooms. They have appealed to the local government, Rawalpindi to start an awareness campaign like Peshawar to kill rats and stray dogs.

Sidra Malik, a resident of Saddar said that dozens of rats freely move in my 5-marla home. “I remain busy in killing rats but some of rats are bigger than cats and it is quite difficult to handle them,” she denounced.