Noida RWA federation seeks stray dog redress from former minister Vijay Goel

NOIDA: The Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Associations (FONRWA) president Yogendra Sharma, on Wednesday, met former BJP Union minister Vijay Goel in Delhi over the problem of the stray dog menace in Noida.

While issues of increasing stray and dangerous dogs in Noida city were discussed in the meeting, concrete steps to control stray dogs and establish more dog shelters were part of some of the measures planned. Goel had spearheaded the stray dog menace earlier when, on August 30, he, along with representatives of several RWAs, staged a protest march against the stray dog menace, near Rajiv Chowk metro station at Connaught Place, in New Delhi, demanding that stray dogs be shifted to shelter homes and dog bite victims be paid adequate compensation. “We met the former BJP Union minister Vijay Goel in Delhi today over the increasing menace of stray dogs in Noida. As children and the elderly suffer the most due to dangerous dogs that attack at any time, we wanted some concrete action on the matter. The meeting was very fruitful as Goel assured to take up the matter and initiate concrete steps to control stray dogs in Noida. Some of these included establishing more dog shelter centres, strictly implementing the capture of dangerous and stray dogs and giving the issue a nationwide campaign for a permanent solution to the problem,” said Yogendra Sharma, president of FONRWA, who also invited Goel to visit Noida.

Others present in the meeting included Vijay Bhati, senior vice president, Pawan Yadav, treasurer from FONRWA and Manoj Sharma from the BJP regional area. FONRWA represents over 180 RWAs of GB Nagar. Former Union minister had on August 30 led a residents' protest against the stray dog menace in Delhi’s Connaught Place. The protestors carried placards with messages such as "Dog feed, people bleed", "Stop feeding dogs on streets" and "Make India rabies-free". They raised slogans like "Awara kutto se desh bachao (Save the country from stray dogs)" and called for the removal of these canines from public spaces.