Stray dog numbers in Delhi will cross 60 lakh in a few years: Vijay Goel

BJP leader Vijay Goel has warned against the growing numbers of stray dogs in the city, claiming that if they are not sterilised, their population would grow from 8 lakh to 60 lakh in a few years.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Goel on Sunday said if the stray dogs in the city are not sterilised now, their “population of 8 lakh will cross 60 lakh” in a few years.

A day after he asked the Delhi government to utilise its 70 veterinary hospitals to sterilise dogs instead of opening new facilities, Mr. Goel told The Hindu that he did not hate canines and was only working to find solutions for the issue of dog bites.

“I have only three demands — sterilisation, adoption and vaccination of stray dogs. I am neither harming them nor asking people to not feed them,” said the BJP leader, who has been leading a campaign against strays in the city.

Earlier in the day, a meeting that Mr. Goel was set to attend at Lodhi Garden’s Rose Park to discuss the stray dogs issue with nearby residents was cancelled due to rain. The BJP leader accused a group of people, including women, of causing a ruckus at the venue.

The former Union Minister added, “I went there on the invitation of the Lodhi Garden Park Association. These so-called dog lovers and feeders tried to provoke me to turn the situation into a conflict. These are the same people who do this at every event I organise and even the police was witness to this today.”

Alleging that the people were linked with NGOs involved in “rampant corruption” related to dogs and are against their sterilisation, he said, “They are scared that I will expose them.”