MC notice to pet owners to register their dogs

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, August 29

Observing the lukewarm response to the registration drive launched for pet dogs, Municipal Health Officer Dr Raju Chowan gave directions to Chief Sanitary Inspectors (CSIs) to issue notices to the owners of pet dogs in their respective areas.

Officials of the Health Wing said the department will issue notices to get their pets dogs registered within a week failing which challans will be issued for dogs that have not been registered and the pet owners will be required to pay fine.

Dr Raju Chowan, Municipal Health Officer (MHO), said, “The response to the registration drive is less than our expectation. I have now asked the sanitary inspectors to serve notices to the residents who keep pets. After serving the notice, we will start challenging the residents and they will have to pay a fine for not registering the dog.”

Earlier, the MC had conducted a survey and found that there are 19,508 pet dogs and around 9,698 stray dogs in the city. The MC has been charging Rs 500 as the annual registration fee for a single dog.

As per the directions, the registration is compulsory to keep a pet dog in the MC jurisdiction. The MC has planned to spend the money collected from the registration of pet dogs on sterilisation.

The drive for the registration of pet dogs was initiated in the city on July 8 at the Civil Veterinary Hospital at Hathi Gate. The drive received a lukewarm response, leading to a delay in the start of a dog sterilisation campaign. The objective of the drive is to generate funds for the dog sterilisation campaign.

As per the information, only 45 residents came to get their dogs registered with the Health Wing of the Municipal Corporation in the first month.

With response to the registration drive being poor, it is expected that the start of the sterilisation campaign would be delayed.