Authorities float tender for shooters to deal with stray pigs menace in MP’s Shivpuri
A local activist said that to control the stray pig menace, authorities should take action against the breeders as well.
Authorities in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district have invited tender for killing about 15,000 stray pigs in the municipal limits of the city, according to an official.
“A large number of people are involved in pig farming in the city. They have been warned many times but they are not ready to shift pigs in a closed area. Now the tender to invite shooters to kill pigs has been floated to end the menace on August 13,” said KK Pateria, chief municipal officer (CMO), Shivpuri.
“As per counting being done ward wise, there are about 15,000 pigs and it can’t be controlled without killing,” he added.
According to district collector Anugraha P, the action was being taken as the animals were attacking people and causing road accidents as well.
“For the past few months, we have been making many efforts to control the population of pigs which is attacking people and is also responsible for many road accidents in Shivpuri. We have asked the people, who are breeding pigs, to shift the pigs as they can’t be allowed to do pig farming in the city. They are not acting properly, so we have to kill them. The MP high court had also issued an order in 2014 for killing if pigs were found straying in the city,” he said.
However, a local activist said that to control the stray pig menace, authorities should take action against the breeders as well.
“Killing is not the long term solution. It had happened earlier too but again, the population has increased a lot and creating trouble in every corner of the city. The local administration has to take action against those who are involved in pig farming,” said Ravi Goyal.
It is the second time when the administration has invited tender for mass killing of pigs, which has been a menace for locals for the past one decade.
Earlier in 2014, professional shooters had killed about 15,000 pigs in Shivpuri after the Gwalior bench of the MP High Court had ordered to keep pigs outside the area of municipal council or destroy the pigs.
The order had followed a PIL in 2012 filed by Dr Rajendra Gupta against the pig menace, citing the dense population of pigs as a danger of various diseases to the residents of Shivpuri.
(With inputs from Ranjeet Gupta in Shivpuri)
