Sniffer and tracker dogs of the state police have now got something to bark about. The dogs are to be insured for a sum of Rs25,000 and the home department has given approval for the same on Friday.
The daily diet charge of the dogs has been hiked from Rs115 to Rs165 with an an-nual allocation of Rs60,225 per dog.
With this order, the long pending demand of the bomb squads has finally been met. The dogs have also been sanctioned allowance for rabies vaccination. The rates were last revised in 2009.
“The dogs work hard to sniff out bombs. If they accidentally blow up, it’s a huge loss. They are also stressed with more work now during anti-sabotage checks, which can result in their death. When they fall sick, we need to spend on their medical bills,” an official of the Intelligence Security Wing said.
Intelligence additional DG M. Mahendar Reddy had sent letters to the state government in February and June this year reques-ting for a hike in charges and insurance cover.
The government was informed that due to a steep hike in costs, they were facing difficulty in meeting expenses for feeding and grooming the dogs. So far, the annual amount spent on dogs for medicines was only Rs2,500 and the same has now shot up to Rs4,500 each. Annual cost of groo-ming equipments has increased from Rs1,500 to Rs4,500.
For the insurance cover, Rs1,925 will be paid as premium. While vaccination charges have been fixed at Rs1,000 each, anti-rabies vaccination for dog handlers has been fixed at Rs1,000 each. Not only the Intelligence Security Wing, but all departments can avail the same allowances.