Senior Congress leader, Prof Saifuddin Soz Tuesday said that he has taken up Dog Menace issue in Kashmir with Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and pleaded with him to lend his Govt’s support to the resolution of this nasty problem which has made the lives of the common people, particularly the children, vulnerable and miserable.“I have explained to the Chief Minister that in the entire developed world, Dog is a domesticated animal against a license and no civilized society should accept the menace of stray dogs,” Soz said in a statement. “I pleaded strongly with the Chief Minister that without waiting for other states to undertake reform, the J&K State should become a model to eradicate this disastrous menace, at the earliest.”Soz said that he explained to CM that killing of dogs cannot be allowed in modern times as a solution of the problem. “The so-called sterilization cannot solve this gigantic problem as the process of sterilization is a slow operation while growth of dogs is an extreme geometrical progression,” he said. “I apprised him (Mufti) of the fact that as a Union Minister of Environment and Forests, I had rejected sterilization as an effective instrument to check growth of Dog Menace as this was part of my duty to take a decision on this subject.”Soz said that he can say with confidence that segregation of male and female dogs is the only workable solution to this menace, which can be done in phases and it may not require any enormous funding.“So, I proposed that while Govt. organizes reform, it should also take steps towards a comprehensive legislation envisaging non-existence of street dogs while pets would be allowed against a license with a tax,” he said. “In this connection, I welcome Supreme Court’s concern on the menace of growing population of stray dogs.” (CNS)