A section of animal activists across the city are trying to collect donations for the shelter by spreading false information.
A section of animal activists are floating an online campaign on social media to collect donations for the animal shelter in Noida Sector 94 on the basis of false information. According to Noida Authority officials this campaign wrongly states that the shelter does not have adequate food and medicines for the thousands of animals that it houses. It also states that the salaries of the staff have not been released for the last three months by the Noida Authority.
Some donations are already trickling in and needless to say the donations that have come are being pocketed by these unscrupulous activists. The Noida Authority has decided to take action against these activists.
“Some activists have even issued their bank account details appealing people to donate money to treat injured animals at the shelter,” said RK Mishra, Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Noida Authority.
“It is a very sensitive matter and we appeal to the people of Noida and other places to refrain from making any donations. Once we collect the evidence against the defaulters and secure the legal department’s opinion, we shall lodge FIRs against them for spreading rumours and seeking donations by fooling people,” Mishra added.
Currently, the shelter houses around 700 dogs and 300 other animals that mainly include cows, bulls, horses and donkeys. The shelter is now being run by the Noida Authority. Before this it was run by the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). However, SPCA’s contract ended in June this year.
A Noida Authority official has stated that around Rs16 lakhs are spent every month for managing the operations of the animal shelter. Out of this Rs 5.5 lakhs account for operational costs alone while Rs 6.5 lakhs are spent on staff salaries. He also stated that there is no depletion in the stock of animal food, medicines and other necessary items.
Noida Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Alok Tandon had inspected the shelter last week.
“We have selected an expert, Dr Sunil Chawla, who is now in charge of this facility and undertaking sterilization drives of all street dogs in Noida,” said RS Yadav, project engineer of Noida Authority.
