094. Dogs more obstruct road travel than roadside rallies. P S Remesh Chandran

094

Dogs more obstruct road travel than roadside rallies. P S Remesh Chandran

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Godwin Angeline Benjo. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The common man’s right to freedom of movement is obstructed more by dogs than by public meetings on roadsides in Kerala. Why no enactment of laws on this issue? Dogs in the roads are the real menace to road travellers in Kerala. Hundreds of street-walking poor people including school children and tourists from other countries are daily bitten and cruelly group-attacked by packs of dogs roaming the streets. Hundreds of people are daily admitted in Kerala hospitals following severe dog attacks. People who have their own cars or government cars to travel rarely understand the pain of being bitten by dogs on the roads, resulting in losing several days’ wages and labour and undergoing costly precautionary treatment against Rabies. These dogs were the real reason behind the recent waves of Dengue and Chikungunya Fever outbreaks in Kerala, a fact no one would like to admit. This viral fever indeed is transmitted by mosquitoes, but it is also classified as a Zoonosis- a disease primarily occurring in mammals that can be transmitted to humans. The viruses responsible for this disease survive in nature as infections in animals, and human infection is not necessary for the survival of this virus. They need a mammalian body bitten by a mosquito to reside in and grow for a time, before being taken back by other mosquitoes and spread among humans. Dogs provide this temporary residence for these viruses. That is why even when we kill mosquitoes in great numbers, because the dogs are remaining there, Dengue is spreading. Since the ban on the killing of dogs, this rate of spreading increased a hundred and then a thousand times. Those who enacted the ban on killing dogs now say they are unable to control the spreading of Dengue.

Dengue Fever is also an Arbovirus Infection, the viruses being transmitted by arthropod vectors such as ticks, and almost all house dogs and street dogs alike are tick-affected. Dogs are the commonest Animal Reservoir Hosts to Dengue Virus. In all states of India Dengue claims thousands of human lives each year and incapacitates tens of thousands more for ever. The question of paying them compensation will come. And who will pay this compensation to travellers on roads who are freely being bitten by dogs? The High Courts of India and the Supreme Court have clearly stated that the Local Bodies of Administration in the area, such as Panchayats, Municipality and Corporation, are legally bound to pay compensation to those who are bitten by dogs in their area. Dogs on the roads in almost all states have already ruined the tourism industry in those states. Its disastrous impact on other spheres of human activity has only begun to be felt. Not only the road walkers but all motorists in Kerala also know that dogs are the real obstructions to the right of movement, not Public Meetings and Rallies. Anyway it is human beings that are assembled there, not attacking packs of dogs.

Article Title Image By Rebekah Howell. Graphics: Adobe SP.

[In response to news article ‘Supreme Court ruling on roadside rallies’ on 17 February 2011]