Overview

• BBMP’s Animal Husbandry Department has issued a Least Cost Selection tender on the Karnataka Public Procurement Portal, with proposals due July 18 and the one-year feeding programme slated to start in August.
• The pilot, known as ‘Kukkir Tihar’, will serve 367 grams of chicken rice per dog at ₹22 daily, at an annual cost of ₹2.88 crore to feed 5,000 strays.
• Service providers must cook in FSSAI-registered kitchens, transport meals in GPS-enabled vehicles, use reusable bowls and submit geo-tagged photographic proof of each feeding.
• Officials say daily feeding will improve stray dog health, reduce scavenging and aggression and support rabies control as part of BBMP’s public health strategy.
• Animal welfare groups have welcomed the humane programme, while critics such as MP Karti P. Chidambaram urge investing in shelters, sterilisation and vaccination instead of street feeding.