noida at least 70000 stray dogs roam the citys streets according to estimates by the noida authority which claims to have sterilised 40000 of them in the past five yearseven by this count which is not backed by a proper census that still leaves 40 of the stray population outside the sterilisation programmes coveragethe noida authority has employed two ngos for the animal birth control programme with officials claiming each sterilises nearly 20 dogs per day ie 1200 dogs per monthexperts however questioned the way the programme is being implemented saying the pace of sterilisation is slow and it has not been able to stop proliferation of strays on the citys roads advocate anjali sharma a former board member of the animal welfare board of india said the noida authority is not implementing the animal birth control abc programme scientifically it does not have basic information a judgment passed by the allahabad high court in 2013 said a civic body should conduct a population survey of dogs before implementing the abc programmethere has to be an empowered agency which along with the rwas and dog lovers locates dogs needing sterilisation awbi rules say these agencies should have proper infrastructure and funds apart from catching teams and ambulances she addedsterilisation also needs to be done timely a dog which needed to be sterilised in 2019 is getting sterilised in 2020 that will not serve the purpose it will have its own family by then a proper followup is also required if a dog becomes aggressive its behaviour has to be checked then and there said kaveri rana a canine rehabilitation expertthe citys expansion is cited as another reason for the increasing stray dog population it is not dogs which are coming into our areas we are encroaching upon their space said nisha singh a greater noida resident and dog lover according to the noida authority it has done two things to tackle the problem it has started taking undertakings from rwas on the success of the abc programme before releasing funds to agencies this followed accusations of agencies raising false bills it has also decided to build small dog shelters near residential societies to keep aggressive dogs as a pilot project four such places will open in sectors 34 50 93 and 135 within a month indu prakash singh officer on special duty at noida authority said we are opening the four shelters after getting requests from rwas we will keep aggressive dogs there until they show behavioural changes while we provide the space it will be the responsibility of the rwa or dog lovers to take care of them ngos will also be involvedbut this move is likely to meet with stiff resistance i have never heard of anything so senseless and illegal it will be challenged in court aggression will only fetch aggression if dogs do not get food they will become aggressive in search of food humans will have to understand this and not take any shortsighted approach