NEW DELHI: The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) has launched a major drive to monitor stray dogs by equipping them with GPS-enabled collars and QR codes.SMC, one of India’s oldest civic bodies, has also started vaccination and sterilisation campaigns to prevent rabies and reduce human-dog conflicts.The initiative comes a day after the Supreme Court revised its earlier directive on stray dog management, ordering that sterilised and vaccinated dogs must be released back into the same area. However, dogs infected with rabies or showing aggressive behaviour will be kept separately.The apex court, in its order, also directed that public feeding of stray dogs will not be permitted, and that dedicated feeding spaces must be created.Mayor Surinder Chauhan said the move to monitor stray dogs by equipping them with GPS-enabled collars and QR codes aims to enhance safety and reduce rabies-linked deaths. “Our vaccination and sterilisation drives have been going on for some time. Now, to minimise rabies cases where earlier, deaths were often discovered to have been caused by a dog bite only after the fact, we have started anti-rabies vaccination for dogs. So far, 2,000 dogs have been vaccinated. Alongside, we are attaching QR code collars that, when scanned, will reveal the dog’s position,” he told ANI.“Dog lovers and animal welfare groups can also track them. For aggressive dogs, we will attach a red tag so they can be identified and handled separately. We are educating the public, working with social organisations, and starting a massive sterilisation campaign,” he added.The mayor claimed Shimla is the first Indian city to take such an initiative. He further claimed that organisations from Goa, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Patiala, and Himachal Pradesh’s Rampur have joined us.“This programme will also produce the first dog census in India, digitising details of each stray. Once the programme concludes, the Chief Minister will formally close it,” Chauhan added.Meanwhile, some residents remain cautious. Pradeep Kumar, a local told ANI that, “There is a lot of fear, especially for children. Once a dog bites, it’s a matter of life and death due to rabies. The idea of collars is good, but the start has not yet happened. There should be a clear count of how many stray dogs are in the city, and this should be published in newspapers so people can be cautious.”He also demanded strict accountability from officials. “If any official is negligent, action should be taken. Visitors from all over India come to Shimla and often only realise the danger after they are bitten and end up in a hospital, sometimes when it is already too late,” Kumar added.
