After a spike in the number of brain-fever cases in the city, the Bengaluru administration had decided to engage contractors to clean the city off its pigs. But faced with cases filed by pig owners, pig catchers hired on contract by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike are unable to do their job. Catchers who had been hired in February this year, have also not been paid their dues by BBMP, reports Atul Chaturvedi for the Bangalore Mirror.
BBMP has so far caught 378 pigs between March and July this year at cost of Rs 2.07 lakh in its drive against encephalitis outbreak in the outskirts of the city, and the highest number was found in Bommanahalli constituency, according to BM.
Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura are the major hubs for illegal breeding. Cases of illegal rearing were reported from Bommanahalli, Electronic city IT area, HSR Layout, Singasandra, Begur and Mico Layout areas.
According to BM, the contract of catching pigs was awarded to Satish Kumar BS, who was asked to catch pigs from BBMP limits at cost of Rs 550 per animal.
However, the contractor, who claims to have caught 378 pigs in last seven months on which he spent Rs 2.07 lakh, is facing case filed by pig owners.
BM quoted him saying, “We are catching pigs regularly, but it becomes very difficult for us when pig owners start interfering in our work. Despite us being awarded the tender, we are not able to fulfil our part of the contract. The work goes waste and we stand to lose Rs 25,000 if we are forced to let go the pigs that are caught.”
Satish said that false cases were booked on grounds of cattle theft against the team members in HSR Layout, where they found the highest number of pigs.
He explained further: “Once we catch pigs, the owners start abusing and threatening us. Then we approach the local police and despite them sending two policemen with us, it is insufficient for our work at hand. Moreover, people who complain about pigs refuse to come to the spot of bother, and chicken out once the job is done.” Satish and his team did not receive any help from the BBMP officials, according to the report.
The district administration established illegal pig rearing as the reason for brain fever cases in Bengaluru, and clearing of pigs was ordered by Bengaluru district in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy after brain fever cases were reported.
This is an aggregated news report from Bangalore Mirror.