Pets peeve Delhi civic agency, licensing policy soon

With increasing mumber of abandoned pets and complaints of unregulated pet shops in the national capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Wednesday took a stand to form a policy on the matter soon.

The proposed pet policy was tabled in the MCD standing committee meeting Wednesday. The policy aims at regulating the unlicensed pet shops operating across Delhi.

"Under the Delhi Municipal Act section 147, no trade can happen without the MCD's license. Yet there are 2,500 pet shops operating in Delhi. There is no check on them. Under the policy we will issue licences and prepare guidelines on the basis of what pet trade is legal," Vijender Gupta, former standing committee chairman, told IANS.

Standing committee chairman R.K. Singhal Wednesday ordered the formation of a sub-committee of a few municipal councillors, led by Vijender Gupta, to study the situation and prepare a report on the policy within 15 days.

The policy will look into regularising trade of pet shops and streamlining licensing.

Another issue addressed under the policy would be that of lost pets. The MCD is contemplating seizure and sale of such animals within a week.

"Lost and pets that go astray are treated as stray animals. Under the DMC Act's section 148m, we can impound them. However, we can only sterilise and set them free where they were found. So, we need to look at this issue," Gupta said.

Earlier this year, following another standing committee decision, the MCD had approached the Delhi Development Authority for allotment of land to make a animal pound. "This plea was refused," Gupta said.

Last updated on Nov 4^th, 2009 at 18:53 pm IST--IANS