Animal rights activist and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday, 19 May raised sharp concerns over the widespread proliferation of illegal stray dog NGOs across India, urging the Centre to restrict each organisation to a single contract and mandate training for all recognised bodies operating under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) framework.

Background: Supreme Court Directions

Gandhi's remarks followed a significant development at the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday declined to recall its earlier directions on the management of stray dogs in public places. The apex court instead issued a fresh set of directives aimed at stricter implementation of the ABC framework nationwide. Calling the court's directions 'undoable', Gandhi remarked: 'The Supreme Court has accepted defeat.'

Scale of the Alleged Fraud

Gandhi alleged that the overwhelming majority of ABC centres currently operating in India are fraudulent. 'Ninety-five per cent of the current ABC centres in the country are fake. They don't perform sterilisation on stray dogs and keep half of the money with themselves and give the rest to some municipality officer. At least Rs 500 to 600 crores have been spent this way,' she said.

She further alleged that only 16 NGOs in the entire country are both trained and credible. 'One company runs multiple NGOs and they simply divide the money and pretend to have performed sterilisation. This is happening in over 150 districts in the country,' she alleged.

The Mandla Case: A Telling Example

Gandhi cited a specific instance from Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, where an ABC centre was raided within two weeks of receiving a contract. Investigators reportedly found that no stray dogs had undergone the procedure. The centre had allegedly procured testicles and ovaries from dead stray dogs sourced from Bhopal and Indore to fabricate sterilisation records. According to Gandhi, the centre was earning Rs 10 lakh per week through this arrangement.

Multi-Contract NGOs: A Growing Mafia

Gandhi pointed to systemic abuse of the contracting process, citing specific cases across states. An NGO in Chennai had allegedly taken 11 contracts, one in Vasai-Virar, Maharashtra had taken five, and in Haryana, between eight and nine contracts had reportedly been awarded to illegal NGOs. 'This has transformed into a mafia,' she said, calling for the immediate removal of such entities.

She also noted the absence of ABC centres in Delhi, stating: 'ABC centres have been closed in Delhi while none has been created.' The Supreme Court bench separately referenced data showing 1,084 dog bite incidents in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district in a single month — a figure Gandhi linked directly to the lack of functional ABC infrastructure. She alleged that in Rajasthan, only one trained NGO — 'Help and Suffering' in Jaipur — is operating legitimately.

What Gandhi Is Demanding

Gandhi urged states to establish 780 ABC centres, provide structured training to NGOs, and legislate a strict one-contract-per-NGO rule. She also drew a comparison to public health funding, arguing that while the government had reportedly spent around Rs 700 crores each week on polio eradication, the stray dog issue has received no comparable resource commitment. She called on the Union government to act with both efficiency and accountability. Going forward, the Supreme Court's fresh directives and any legislative response to Gandhi's demands will determine whether India's ABC programme can be salvaged from what she describes as systemic institutional fraud.