The Pondicherry and Oulgaret municipalities have initiated steps to construct dog shelters, marking the first concrete infrastructure move towards implementing the Supreme Court-ordered relocation drive in States and the Union Territories.

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The Pondicherry Municipality has issued a work order to a private firm for the construction of a dog shelter on a site belonging to the local body in Murungampakkam. The shelter to be built at a cost of ₹97 lakh, will have the capacity to house 180 dogs and is expected to be completed within three months.

The Oulgaret Municipality has also initiated steps for construction of a shelter within the premises of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Research (RIVER) at Kurumbapet.

Official source said the facilities will include kennels, feeding areas, a kitchen and basic veterinary infrastructure for first aid, vaccination, surgeries and post-operative care wards. The shelters will be enclosed by compound walls to ensure the safety of the animals.

A survey conducted by the local bodies found that around 400 dogs in public spaces need to be relocated within their jurisdiction.

According to an official, “The relocation will be carried out in phases, with the day-to-day care of the dogs outsourced to NGOs. The local bodies will allocate funds, inclusive of feeding costs, while nodal officers employed by the municipalities at institutions will oversee the operations.”

Following the Supreme Court order, the local bodies had earlier written to the heads of hospitals, schools and colleges directing them to appoint nodal officers to coordinate with government agencies on implementing the court’s directions. Institutions were asked to conduct a census of the dog population on their campuses.

The municipalities also directed college heads to ensure that feeding of stray dogs is not permitted within campus premises and to adopt measures to prevent the ingress of free-ranging dogs.

Under that order, State governments and Union Territories were directed to identify all government and private educational institutions, hospitals (including district hospitals, primary health centres and medical colleges), sports complexes, bus stands and depots and railway stations within their limits, and secure these premises with adequate fencing, boundary walls and gates to prevent stray dogs from entering.

The order also mandated that conduct of regular inspections at least once every three months, to ensure that no stray canines exist within or in the immediate vicinity of such institution.

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI’s) Standard Operating Procedure mandates that dogs removed from institutional areas cannot be released back into the same locations and must instead be shifted to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination under the Animal Birth Control Rules.

ABC programme already under way in the region

The Pondicherry Municipality whose jurisdiction covers the Boulevard and the Oulgaret Municipality, whose jurisdiction covers major institutions such as Pondicherry University, Puducherry Technological University, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, the Government Medical College and several arts and science colleges, had already intensified their Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme even before the Supreme Court’s order on stray dogs.

The ABC drive in the region resumed operations after being on hold for several years, with the International Trust of Peace, an NGO engaged to run the programme in the Pondicherry municipal areas, at a fee of ₹1,650 per dog covering capture, sterilisation, post-operative care, anti-rabies vaccination and relocation.

Over the last seven months, the Pondicherry Municipality had sterilised around 1,400 stray dogs through its Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre at Odiansalai, an official said.

Published - August 02, 2026 01:15 pm IST