Bhubaneswar, April 1: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in its noble gesture for the affected stray animals due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown today started distribution of food and water across the city.

The initiative, taken up under the leadership of BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary to help the animals suffering on streets will have three vehicles for three zones.

Each vehicle, which started from the sub-divisional veterinary officer (SDVO), Shahid Nagar early in the morning around 8 am carried biryani/khichdi for the dogs and cattle feed for bulls and dogs along with two drums of water. The vehicles also got utensils to be used to serve the food for dogs and cattle.

Each vehicle was also staffed with four persons from BMC and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department. The service will continue till the lockdown period is in force. On the first day BMC hopes to cover 1,000 stray cattles and 10,000 dogs.

For this animal welfare programme BMC has formulated an SOP and will ensure preparation of food worth Rs 20,000 every day for dogs, bulls and cows. As the stray dogs and bulls/cows form the major chunk of the animal population Rs 12,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively will be spent for dogs and bulls/cows respectively.

For this noble gesture of the State Government the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department has granted Rs 3.60 lakhs for food only. Other expenses, if any, would be met by BMC.

However, any organisation desiring to take part in this work cannot distribute the food to stray animals directly. The SOP has asked to contact the deputy commissioner concerned to take part in the programme. It can be mentioned here that the city currently has got more than 1,500 bulls and more than 40,000 stray dogs.