A sharp rise in dog bite cases in Haryana has exposed serious lapses in the implementation of the stray dog sterilisation programme with the Panipat municipal corporation carrying out zero sterilisation in 2023-24 despite having a ₹ 96 lakh budget. Dog bite cases in Panipat doubled from 17,766 in 2022-23 to 36,336 in 2024-25 in two years.
This highlighted the ULBs did not ensure compliance of the statutory provisions for regulation of pet dogs. 2001, pet dog owners shall be responsible for controlled breeding, immunisation, sterilisation and licensing whereas street dogs shall be sterilised and immunised by participation of animal welfare organisations, private individuals, and the local authority, according to the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules. The CAG said the Panipat municipal corporation in January 2021 engaged an agency for sterilisation of dogs till June 2021, further extended till June 2022. “However, no survey or assessment of number of dogs population was conducted before awarding the work of sterilisation by the MC Panipat in discharge of its function under Rule 5(e) of the ABC Rules, 2001, which provided that for planning and management of dog control programme, a survey of the number of street dogs shall be done by an independent agency,’’ the audit report said. The CAG said that the agency conducted a total of 6,187 sterilisations of stray dogs up to June 2022 including 2,176 sterilisations up to June 2021. “The number of dog bite cases increased from 17,766 in 2022-23 to 21,576 in 2023-24, and further to 36,336 in 2024-25, which highlights an increasing trend in the number of dog bite cases. Despite this, no sterilisation of dogs was done in the year 2023-24 despite availability of a budget of ₹ 96 lakh. It is worth mentioning that the work order for sterilisation of dogs was issued on February 4, 2025, to be effective from March 25, 2025,” the audit report said. “Further, sterilisation of dogs was not carried out in these urban local bodies though cases of dog bite increased from 4,647 in 2022-23 to 6,859 in 2024-25 in Fatehabad district. There was no evidence of any long-term strategy for stray dog population control being framed,” the audit report said, The report said that section 311 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, provided for registration of dogs kept within the municipal areas. Audit however, observed that there was only one case of registration of dog from 2020-21 to 2023-24 in MC Panipat whereas no dog registration took place in MCs of Samalkha, Tohana, Fatehabad and Bhuna up to March 2024. These points were referred to the concerned ULBs in January 2026, but their reply was awaited (June 2026), the CAG said.
The CAG said that the shortfall in sterilisation of dogs contributed to the increased population of dogs and biting incidents. The CAG said that in MC Samalkha, MC Fatehabad, MC Tohana and MC Bhuna, data records relating to stray and pet dog population and public grievances regarding dog bite cases were not being maintained.
The auditors said that the state government should ensure that municipalities construct cattle pounds for impounded stray animals, make dog registration mandatory with prescribed fees, to support regulatory functions and Municipal revenue generation and constitute a three-tier committee to achieve dog-sterilisation targets.
