Saturday, Oct 23, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/23/stories/2010102353420300.htm
In jest it is being said now that patients discharged from the Government Headquarters hospital here are reluctant to walk out of the gate.
Not because the conditions in the hospital are so good or the services offered so patient-friendly but on account of the danger that lurks near the gate and beyond in the form of stray ponies.
Rules
With the rules relating to stray ponies and other animals being observed more in the breach by both the owners and the authorities concerned and campaigns conducted off and on to rid this vacation destination of the menace not producing the desired results, the ponies have become ubiquitous. Whereas among their regular haunts are the Government Headquarters Hospital, the Collectorate Junction, the Commissioner's Road and the Spencer's Road, there is hardly a place in the town or its suburbs where one doesn't run into a pony.
With complaints mounting, the issue has figured prominently at a number of meetings of the Udhagamandalam Municipal Council but nothing tangible has been done so far to find a permanent solution.
Consequently, the problem is threatening to get out of hand.
While tourists opine that getting them off the roads will do them and the road users a world of good, locals feel that it is high time that the administration and the police join hands to put the ponies where they belong.
Enquiries reveal that there is a provision in the law to impose a fine on the owners of animals who allow them to stray.
