Letter sent to Chief Commissioner via email on this :
27 Jan 2022
Chief Commissioner- BBMP
BBMP
Bangalore
Dear Sir:
Subject: Redesign Road Drains to Avoid Animal Torture and Suffering
A sincere request. Many dogs and their caretakers around Bengaluru City are suffering great trauma as many of the dogs that sometimes go into the drain (either to sleep or because they have puppies) are being sealed in during drain reconstruction. Please refer to today’s Bangalore Mirror front page article ‘UnderDogs’ .
We do not know how many dogs we are missing and how many die in terrible circumstances, suffocating and starving slowly to death in the darkness. Many pictures and videos of such tragic incidents can be shared. Every single one of our 35 CJMT Animal Care Squads across the city have faced this issue and have not only had problems with getting the dogs out or getting help but also wasting precious resources spent by BBMP on concreting these drains by having to forcibly break it open to rescue the dogs.
This is so easily preventable. It makes sense that this inadvertent cruelty, redundancy and waste of resources should be avoided, and this can be easily addressed if the directions come from you.
We completely understand the drains must be properly covered so that debris, leaves, garbage, mud silt etc. do not fall into it, resulting in blockages and or flooding of drains and roads during monsoons. However, since we need access to the drains to clean and desilt them as well as keep the cost of a life and the Animal Welfare aspect in mind, the redesign and application of compassion & common sense on the issue of drain design is a necessity. The stench and rot from dead animals in drains are not just uncomfortable for residents but a health hazard in these pandemic times for BBMP workers and citizens.
Therefore, in the interest of both civic Issues, Animal Welfare and avoiding wastage of scarce financial and other resources, we suggest that a simple engineering tweak to the drain blueprint is designed across Bengaluru. This should ensure there are sufficient gaps or removable slabs every 10 feet so as to allow for both Dogs to come out as well as desilting to be done. The Animal Care Squads themselves have partnered with BBMP to enable such cleaning in many areas of the city.
You would appreciate that this needs to be done on a war footing on priority. Assistant Engineers and Executive Engineers across all Wards in addition to PWD, BBMP Engineering Departments as well as Major Roads Division must be apprised of this so that they can be aware, compassionate, and not inadvertently cause the painful deaths of helpless animals.
There are countless locally resident animal lovers who deeply care for the streeties and strive to help by partnering with BBMP.We seek your design intervention and an implementation plan to address this issue. It could be a good idea to invite designs from the public and create more awareness this way
Looking forward to your thoughts and prompt action.
Thanking you for your cooperation and support.
Sincerely
Priya Chetty-Rajagopal
Trustee
CC: BBMP Major Roads
CC: Chief Engineer, Smart City & PWD
CC: Chief Engineer, BBMP
CC: Member Secretary, KAWB Karnataka Animal Welfare Board
CC Member Secretary, Bangalore Urban SPCA
CC: Secretary, AWBI Animal Welfare Board of India
CC: Iffath Fatima, Bangalore Mirror
CC: Arun Prasad, Activist
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