Frustrated by dog menace, Yuva Sena workers release strays on Nashik official's table

A group of activists released stray dogs into the Niphad Nagar Panchayat chief officer's office and placed a garland of currency notes on the table. The protest targeted alleged inaction over rising dog bites and fear during Ganeshotsav.

A protest over the growing stray-dog menace in Maharashtra’s Nashik took an unusual turn when Yuva Sena workers brought two stray puppies into a municipal office and released them on the chief officer’s table.

Dramatic visuals of the incident showed Vikram Randhave, district chief of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, releasing the puppies on the table of chief officer Dheeraj Bhamre at the Nagar Panchayat office in Niphad.

The workers staged the demonstration to protest what they claimed was the administration’s failure to act on repeated complaints about stray dogs.

The puppies had been placed inside small sacks before being brought into the office. Once released, they appeared nervous as they scurried across the table, looking around the unfamiliar surroundings.

Randhave also placed a garland made of currency notes on Bhamre’s table as part of the protest.

The demonstration sought to draw attention to complaints about stray dogs in and around Niphad town. Protesters claimed that the stray-dog population had been increasing, creating difficulties for children, senior citizens, women and motorists.

They further alleged that several people had been bitten by stray dogs and that repeated complaints and representations to the administration had failed to result in concrete action.

Randhave also raised the issue during the ongoing Ganeshotsav celebrations, claiming that the presence of stray dogs had created a sense of fear among people visiting Ganesh pandals.

He demanded immediate sterilisation drives, proper dog-catching arrangements and measures to control the stray population.

Criticising the civic administration, Randhave said that despite the issue being raised for days, no real action had been taken. He accused the administration of focusing on tendering processes instead of addressing civic problems.

Randhave further warned that if the administration failed to act, he would repeat the protest and once again release stray dogs inside the Chief Officer’s office in the presence of citizens.

Last month, a similar unusual protest took place in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa, where a man wearing a dog mask was brought to a public hearing to highlight alleged irregularities in the municipal corporation’s stray-dog sterilisation drive.

Khandwa Municipal Corporation Leader of Opposition Deepak “Mullu” Rathore used the demonstration to draw attention to the city’s stray-dog problem, following which officials assured him that a committee would be formed to look into the allegations and take appropriate action.

The protest turned an everyday civic complaint into a scene that was hard for the administration to ignore, bringing the stray-dog issue, quite literally, inside its own office.