Latest news with #PreetpalSingh
Indian Express
a day ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Only 2 ABC centres, no shelters: Challenges loom over Gurgaon
The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) is planning to scale up vaccination and sterilisation of stray dogs in the wake of a judgment of the Supreme Court, which directed authorities to shift them from streets to shelters. The civic body, through its tie-up with two NGOs, supervises work at two animal birth control (ABC) centres — at Baliawas and Kherki Majra — according to its Joint Commissioner Preetpal Singh. He told The Indian Express that so far in 2025, over 20,000 dogs have been vaccinated and sterilised at these centres. 'The MCG does not operate dedicated shelters, and treated dogs are returned to their original locations after the procedures,' Singh said. According to officials, Gurgaon currently has two dog-catching vans. And in Panchkula's Sukhdarshanpur village, the municipal corporation has opened a kennel house with a capacity of 1,000, they said. 'To be honest, right now, we are finding it a little difficult. The commissioner has gone to Chandigarh today for a meeting on implementation of the (SC) order. We will begin identifying land and appropriate buildings soon for the centres. We do not have clarity on whether the shelters should be in an enclosed or an open area,' Singh said. The MCG is looking to push the number of vaccinations and sterilisations from 300 to 1200 a month, once the number of centres is taken to four – one for each zone – in the coming months. 'The two existing centres are neither big enough, nor do they have sufficient amenities to be turned into shelters. So far, as per the ABC rules, we were putting the dogs back in their neighbourhoods after vaccination, treatment or sterilisation,' Singh also said. Speaking on the SC order, the Joint Commissioner said that the MCG will comply with it fully. Data shared by Dr Shalini Goel, a deputy civil surgeon in Gurgaon, meanwhile, highlighted the menace of dog bites being faced by the city. As per the data, between January and May this year, 2,165 cases of stray dog bites, 404 of pet dog bites, and 125 cat bites were reported. In 2024, stray dog bite cases stood at 4,529 and pet dog bites at 218, while 2023 saw 4,685 stray dog bite and 198 pet dog bite cases. Sudhir Sachdeva (53), the founder of Stand for Animals — an NGO based in Delhi and operating across northern India — told this paper: 'We have been feeding more than 1,000 dogs every day, getting 300 neutered and up to 3,000 vaccinated every year — besides rescuing, treating and adopting others. The centres identified in the NCR will neither be sufficient nor successful. If the right efforts are made towards vaccination and sterilisation, rabies and overpopulation can be fought. But the (SC) order instructing their removal from the streets is not right, and defies the law (ABC rules).' One cannot penalise all dogs based on only some instances, he said, adding: 'If they are not fed well, not sterilised, not vaccinated, then these things happen. Tackle those issues and their rabies, aggression and hunger will go away.'
Time of India
2 days ago
- General
- Time of India
50k stray dogs, but city has shelters for only 100 now
Gurgaon: The Supreme Court's order that all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR must be relocated to shelter homes poses a significant challenge for civic authorities because of inadequate infrastructure to house the animals once they are removed from the roads. In a meeting held hours after the court ruling, municipal commissioner Pradeep Dahiya asked Preetpal Singh, joint commissioner (Swachh Bharat Mission), to start working towards implementing the order. The court's directive, however, contradicts the Animal Welfare Board of India's 2022 advisory that recommended against relocating stray dogs. The Monday verdict came in response to repeated incidents of dog bite cases across Delhi-NCR, which have raised concerns regarding public safety. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon Dahiya told TOI after the meeting, "We will first study the Supreme Court order and then decide on the further course of action. Yes, we must allocate space to set up dog shelters in the city. But we will have to determine whether these shelters will be set up zone-wise or ward-wise." But implementing the order seems easier said than done. The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) now faces the daunting task of relocating an estimated 50,000 stray dogs in shelter homes. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Ranked: The 25 Best Cities To Live In The World Learn More Undo But as of now, the city has only two operational dog shelters — each with a capacity of 50 animals, located in Baliwas and Daultabad. Two additional shelters are under construction in Basai and Begampur Khatola, but they, too, can only accommodate 50 dogs each. This limited infrastructure presents a formidable challenge for MCG, which must now find ways to house the entire stray dog population. But why does the city lack adequate animal shelters? An MCG official explained, "The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, required us to return sterilised dogs to their original locations. So, we never built extensive infrastructure for housing these animals. Creating such spaces now, and ensuring they are equipped with CCTV surveillance to prevent animal cruelty, will be a significant challenge." Apart from relocating strays, the apex court has also asked authorities to ensure that dogs that have already been picked up and moved to shelters earlier are not released back on to the streets. It has warned against any resistance to the relocation efforts, emphasising the need to make streets free of stray dogs. For civic bodies, the challenge is to balance public safety with humane treatment of stray animals, all while grappling with infrastructure limitations. Officials said MCG had been working with two private agencies for dog sterilisation and vaccination. According to them, over 20,000 dogs have been sterilised in the city since Jan this year. But the contracts of these agencies are set to expire in Dec. To improve coverage, the corporation is now planning to hire four separate agencies — one for each city zone — to continue with the sterilisation programme. "We are working to improve our numbers of dog sterilisation. After the contract of these two agencies gets over, we are planning to hire four separate agencies, one for each zone of the city. This will ensure better coverage in terms of sterilisation of the stray dog population," Preetpal said. In June 2023, MCG had informed the Punjab and Haryana high court that there were over 17,000 stray dogs in the city, with 1,670 dog bite cases reported in the previous three years. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Two held for cheating petrol pumps with fake payment apps
1 2 Jaipur: Police Sunday arrested two men accused of cheating petrol pumps across Sriganganagar district by using fake online payment apps. Officers said the duo would fill their car and containers with large quantities of diesel, show a bogus payment confirmation on a cloned app, and drive off before the fraud was detected. A car allegedly used in the crimes was also seized. The accused, identified as Preetpal Singh, 24, and Pushpendra Singh, 23, are both local residents. Complaints came in from multiple areas, including Raisinghnagar, Gajsinghpur, Srikaranpur, and Padampur, prompting police to launch a technical investigation. The case was cracked on Aug 7, when a petrol pump employee in Padampur reported that two youths in a car took 145 litres of diesel and paid using what appeared to be an online transfer. The payment later turned out to be fake. Based on evidence gathered, police traced and detained the suspects. According to police, the men repeatedly targeted fuel stations using cloned payment gateways that displayed false "successful payment" screens. In one incident, they allegedly took diesel worth Rs 30,000 from two petrol pumps in the Srikaranpur area, filling both their vehicle and large containers. Police said that in some cases, when pump workers realised the payment did not go through and confronted them, the men threatened the staff before speeding away. Investigators believe they resold the stolen fuel to truck drivers at a cheaper rate, making quick profits while evading payment to pump owners. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
The Hindu
01-08-2025
- The Hindu
Gurugram launches drive against stray cattle
The Hindu Bureau GURUGRAM The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Friday launched a special campaign to address the growing issue of stray cattle in the city. Cattle roaming on roads, streets, and markets are being rounded up and sent to cow shelters as part of the drive. The initiative follows an intensive cleanliness campaign that began on July 28, after a high-level meeting chaired by Commissioner and Secretary of the Urban Local Bodies Department, Vikas Gupta, to review Gurugram's sanitation measures. On the first day of the stray cattle drive, MCG teams conducted inspections in areas such as Sector-15 Part-2, DLF Phase-5, and Sector-42. A total of seven animals were caught – two from Sector-15 Part-2, three from DLF Phase-5, and two from Sector-42 – and transported to MCG-run cow shelters. MCG Joint Commissioner (Swachh Bharat Mission) Preetpal Singh said six agencies appointed by the corporation were fined a total of ₹83,000 for negligence in catching stray cattle and failing to resolve public complaints. Penalties included ₹9,000 on Animal Sympathy Organisation, ₹28,000 on R S Enterprises, ₹3,000 on Scorpion Buildtech, and ₹19,000 on Jeev Daya Social Welfare Society. All agencies have been issued notices and warned to prioritise animal-related complaints. MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said the campaign was launched in response to persistent complaints from citizens about stray cattle. He added that the drive will continue through the month and will cover all city wards. Residents have been urged to report sightings on the helpline 1800-180-1817. The special drive was initiated after residents, including prominent citizens, took to social media to criticise the MCG for the civic mess.
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
From POCs To Impact: A 3-Pillar GenAI Strategy For Growth
Preetpal Singh, Group Managing Director Global Head Product and Platform Engineering at Xebia. Generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to fundamentally change the trajectory of nearly every industry. Experts estimate that more than 30% of all workers could eventually see at least 50% of their occupation's tasks impacted by the technology. Companies have been quick to act: recent research from Google Cloud shows that more than six in 10 large companies (more than 100 employees) are currently using GenAI, and 74% are already seeing a measurable return on investment. These are impressive numbers, but they can obscure a key truth: GenAI is still in its infancy and many efforts remain narrowly focused on increasing the efficiency of existing processes. The reality is that most organizations are stuck in the experimentation phase. While GenAI proofs-of-concept (POCs) are everywhere, very few have been successfully scaled. Gartner predicts that one-third of all GenAI programs will be abandoned after the POC stage by the end of 2025, underscoring the difficulties facing companies as they try to operationalize functional progress. The Scaling Challenge: From Pilot Projects To Enterprise Programs While GenAI can be powerful, the journey to genuine impact isn't always easy. When businesses isolate a promising use case, they may have to deal with scaling safety or proving cost-effectiveness. That's because scaling GenAI isn't just about replicating use cases—it's about aligning technology, data, people and governance across the enterprise. As multiple departments, managers and processes get involved, complexity grows, leading to challenges. Companies commonly encounter the following barriers when attempting to scale GenAI: • Managing fragmented infrastructure that is siloed and difficult to integrate • Preventing shadow IT (registration required) and decentralized experimentation with unvetted applications • Improving enterprise-wide GenAI literacy and structured adoption plans • Mitigating security and compliance risks across use cases • Controlling cost overruns caused by unmonitored model usage As industries move from GenAI experimentation to adoption, they need a careful implementation strategy—one that includes a foundational, scalable framework to organize the work ahead. Building A Scalable Framework Around 3 Key Pillars While small functional changes often target specific tasks, building and scaling enterprise-wide GenAI solutions requires a comprehensive, end-to-end approach. Given all the moving parts, having a framework in place helps ensure initiatives are thoughtfully crafted, efficiently deployed and continuously refined for maximum business value. Here is a breakdown of how that framework could look, along with industry examples: When companies think about scaling GenAI, there is a natural inclination to start with the technology. This is a common mistake. Leadership teams should begin by aligning business goals and identifying high-impact use cases designed to drive value. By concentrating on outcomes first, teams can ensure initiatives are focused, scalable and tailored to the organization's needs. From there, it's important to fine-tune large-language models (registration required)—sometimes referred to as foundational models—with industry-specific data, or to experiment with multiple model architectures to find an optimal approach. In 2024, JPMorgan rolled out a GenAI assistant to 60,000 employees to help with tasks like writing emails and reports. Rather than developing its own GenAI model trained on sensitive financial data, the bank designed its assistant as a portal to access external large-language models (LLMs). This is a strong example of starting with a business outcome—improved productivity—and selecting the right tech to meet it. If the bank had started with building its own model, it could have introduced risk that would hinder scaling. In business, speed is critical—but even the fastest cars have brakes. Any GenAI operating system must include guardrails for data privacy, security, compliance and ethical use. This requires diverse development teams and rigorous bias detection and mitigation strategies. Many companies now embrace a "white box" approach where GenAI models provide insight into their decision-making processes, helping users understand the factors behind the outcomes. Here are some examples of responsible AI governance: • Establishing tool kits, like IBM's to help manage complex regulations with minimal manual oversight • Creating ethical AI committees, like Microsoft's Aether, to certify the responsible development and deployment of GenAI technologies To support scale, companies must invest in GenAI literacy and ensure systems can evolve with shifting business needs. This includes building a culture of experimentation and providing pathways for teams to grow their skills. Organizations can take action to drive readiness: • Enabling employees to experiment with user-friendly, self-service tools • Delivering continuing education and structured upskilling programs • Deploying GenAI or agentic AI builders to support departmental onboarding at scale In 2024, AstraZeneca announced a GenAI accreditation program—a self-guided training course to upskill employees on responsible GenAI use. The program aims to boost confidence and nurture the human skills needed to thrive in the AI era. From Experiments To Enterprise Value The next 12 to 24 months will define winners in the GenAI space. Now is the time to scale. Doing so requires the right framework, built around strategy, governance and people. Putting in this work supports adoption across the organization and ensures GenAI initiatives align with business objectives. With it, GenAI becomes a force multiplier for sustainable growth. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
