Hospital for strays: Land found, hunt for funds

KolKata : The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to set up a hospital and a crematorium for animals. The Left Front government had ignored this plea for years but the new administration has already identified land for these projects in Dhapa. Civic officials along with actor and MLA Debashree Roy, who runs the Society for Stray Dog Birth Control, met animal resource development minister Nure Alam Chowdhury at Writers' Buildings on Wednesday to discuss the issue, especially on getting funds for the projects from NABARD and the Centre.

Atin Ghosh, the mayoral council member overseeing health, said they had been trying to build a hospital for animals for quite some time but could not find land. "We had approached the previous government several times but nothing happened. Now, the Trinamool-led government and Kolkata Municipal Corporation will jointly set up an animal hospital. KMC has identified land near the Dhapa dumping ground," Ghosh said.