A Madras High Court appointed committee on Monday said that Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has contributed ₹10 lakh for feeding stray animals during the lockdown but the State Government is yet to allot ₹9.2 lakh sought for purchasing feed.
Appearing before Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, advocate A. Yogeshwaran, one of the members of the committee, said it had been decided to purchase 2,500 kg of dog food, 200 kg of cat food and 104 sacks of horse feed with the available money.
He said the Animal Husbandry department had opened a separate bank account to receive donations and that the amount would be utilised to purchase further feed in the future. He also placed any elaborate plan chalked out to store the feed at different locations in the city and supply them to local animal feeders.
After recording his submissions, the judges hoped that the State Government would allot ₹9.2 lakh soon. It pointed out that the feeding plan, devised by the court following a public interest litigation petition filed by animal lover V.E. Shiva, was only a temporary measure which would not be continued after the lockdown.
The court said it was necessary to feed the stray animals during the lockdown since there was hardly any food available for them and there was little scope even for scavenging.
When the lawyer expressed doubts about the health of several stray dogs inside Indian Institute of Technology-Madras campus, the judges hoped that the management would be taking good care of them. Nevertheless, it directed the Animal Husbandry department officials to enter the campus, with prior intimation, and ascertain the health of the animals.
