Small kids at the mercy of stray dogs in city

HYDERABAD: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board area has become dangerous for small children with stray dogs biting and injuring as many as 10 children in the last two days.  The most recent victims of the dogs were six-year-old Hena Zabi and four-year-old MD Huzmun, both residents of Rasoolpura.“A pack of eight dogs which were fighting among themselves on the street, attacked my child when she was relieving herself outside the house. My neighbour’s son Huzmun who was playing near the gate was bitten badly on Monday evening,” said MD Alim, father of Hena Zabi.“The dogs dragged the boy for almost 15 meters. He was let off when locals, alerted by the cries of Huzmun, chased the dogs away. We rushed the children to the hospital and spent nearly Rs 7,000 on each for treatment and medicines,” he said.  He further added, “We are not the first victims in the SCB area. There were seven more such incidents in the last two days and three to five cases have been reported every week for the last three months.” The complaints that the residents made to the SCB are bearing results only after many children have become victims. “On Tuesday, SCB gave us a compensation of Rs 5,000 for the treatment of my children,” Alim said.The SCB also hired a dog squad on Monday from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The squad has rounded up about 30 dogs so far and freed them at the outskirts of the city.  But freeing them outside the city has hardly helped the dogs are coming back to the area where they were caught, said S Balakrishna, chief executive officer of SCB. He added that the SCB will soon arrange for its own dog squad with two vehicles. He also said that they asked for rabies vaccine for the victims from the AP health department but did not get a positive response.  Afzal Mohiuddin, health superintendent of SCB said, they would pay for help from GHMC until the problem is brought under control. “The stray dogs which were caught will be sterilized before they are freed at the outskirts of the city,” he said.However, Shaik Nayeem, convener of United Rasoolpura Educational and Welfare Society said, “We have been asking the SCB for security from stray dogs. But the CEO of SCB only said that children should not be sent outside.”