NOIDA, Aug. 23 -- The Noida authority's health department on Friday issued fresh directives to apartment owners' associations and residents' welfare associations to designate dog feeding points away from roads and public spaces, as part to tackle stray dog menace. The move comes on the directions of the Supreme Court order on tackling stray dog menace in the city and rising complaints about dog bites. The city houses around 30,000 stray dogs, with four new small hospitals and one big facility in Sector 94, which has been operational for over 30 years," said SP Singh, general manager, health department. The authority directed the associations to help implement animal birth control rules-2023, make dog feeding points and help in sterilisation drives. Noida is spread across 20,000 hectares area, with 165 well planned sectors and 81 villages. "We made requests to the AOAs, RWAs and other citizen groups to create feeding points within their societies to ensure dogs stay in designated areas," said a Noida authority official. The health department said that they will create more facilities for stray dogs. "However, if the stray dog is infected or aggressive, then we will not release them and keep them in separate shelters for sterilisation and immunisation. ," said the official. Noida authority currently sterilises and vaccinates 750 stray dogs in a month, at a cost of Rs.1,600 per dog. The authority has recently built shelters in Sectors 34 and 135 to house stray dogs, each spread across 2,000 square metres and equipped with facilities. It currently houses 300 aggressive stray dogs. Authorities are also developing a 4-acre facility for a dog shelter and hospital. Despite the authority's claim, animal activists and residents say more needs to be done. Animal activist Dr Sanjay Mahapatra, who runs an animal hospital for free for stray dogs in Noida's sector 54, said that the facilities are not adequate. "The state government-run 10 animal hospitals are failing to meet the challenges. The authority must invest in developing more facilities to address the conflict," said Mahapatra. Residents said that the authority's health department is not proactively working to address the issue. Madhvi Singh, a resident of Capetown society in sector 74 said the health department does not respond promptly to dog bite cases in their society. Following the top court order, Sakha Ek Pehel and Yuva Kranti Sena have launched a vaccination and sterilization drive, especially at sensitive zones where dog bite incidents are frequent. "Our aim is to put an end to disputes in society," said Avinash Singh, president of Yuva Kranti Sena, a social group of city's youth. On Friday, the volunteers held a meeting with Satnarayan Goyal, President of Sector-55 RWA, from where the campaign will be formally launched on Saturday....