ISSUE DATE: April 26, 2021
UPDATED: April 17, 2021 13:33 IST
Inhumane solution, Nawab Shafath Ali Khan atop a police vehicle shooting stray pigs in Shivpuri
With municipal elections soon to be held in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri, a long-simmering problem faced by the city authorities, how to address the safety risks posed by stray pigs, may acquire a political dimension. Following a petition by an animal rights activist, on March 19 this year, the division bench of the Gwalior High Court ordered the Shivpuri Municipal Council (SMC) to abandon its current method of controlling the stray pig population, hiring sharpshooters for culls, and find a new solution. This has pleased members of the city’s 12,000-strong Valmiki community, who make a living as scavengers and sanitation workers and raise pigs to help them with their work.