Neighbour’s dog shelter forces elderly to put up house in Lucknow on sale

LUCKNOW: A dispute with a neighbour on sheltering two dozen stray dogs in her house has forced an elderly resident of Jankipuram Extension to put her 'house for sale'.
Deeksha Trivedi, 65, a resident of Sector-6 in Jankipuram Extension, has a put up a board outside two-storeyed house with the message "This house is for sale because of stray dog menace and false allegations - contact Deekha Trivedi".
When contacted, Trivedi said she moved into the house after her husband's retirement from the service. Since then she and her family have been facing problems due to the 30-odd stray dogs kept in a shelter home created by her neighbour, she added.
"We had kept tenants but they left because of the menace. We have complained to civic authorities and asked the neighbour to keep dogs away from the children of the colony but to no avail. Now, we have decided to sell our house," she said and added that her family can take back the decision if the neighbour accepts their demand.
Other residents of the colony also complained that togs chase locals and every vehicle passing through the locality. Children are afraid to venture out due to the problem. They also said that they are now able to sleep at night due to constant barking by dogs.
Ram Bahadur Pandey, who lives with his grandchildren in the colony, said, "There have been dog bite cases as well. Our requests to shift dogs somewhere so that our children can move freely in the streets have gone unheeded," he said.
Vinay Krishna Pandey, secretary of the Resident Welfare Society of Jankipuram Vistar said, "We have received several complaints from residents and collectively raised the issue with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation."
The neighbour, Shubhani Arora, 55, who runs the shelter Nurture Nature for the injured stray dogs, rubbished all the allegations and accused her neighbours of harassing her and poor animals.
"We have given shelter to 31 dogs, of which 20 can't even move. They need constant assistance, help, and care. The neighbours do not support our cause and even provoke dogs. They pass derogatory remarks and have threatened my niece. We had no choice but to file an FIR a few days ago against the Trivedi family."
LMC's chief veterinary officer Dr Abhinav Verma said, "We issued several notices to Arora several times on the complaints of other residents, but no improvement has been seen yet. Humane Society International, an organization working with LMC, will send a community engagement team soon in the area for the redressal of the issue."