23 April,2022 08:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Sameer Surve
Representative image. Pic/ istock
To encourage more people to get their pet dogs licensed, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) will soon launch a drive - 'Mission Pet License'. As per the initiative, the team of the ward will trace the pet owner while they are out for a morning walk and appeal to them to register their pets.
"As the number of licensed dogs in Navi Mumbai has reduced, the civic authority has decided to start this drive. We will trace unlicensed dogs while the owner takes them for a walk," said an officer of NMMC. "Our team will appeal to the pet owner to register their pet and get a license as it is mandatory by NMMC law. A team of officers will visit places for morning walks," said Mitali Sanchati, ward officer of Belapur.
As of now, the civic body is not thinking of any strict action, another officer of NMMC added. There are over 3,000 pet dogs in the city. In 2018-19, there were 263 registered dogs, while only 119 dogs are registered at present. "A license for a pet dog is mandatory. It can be availed by submitting documents and mandatory vaccination given to the pet. It costs only Rs 85. The pandemic could be one of the reasons for the decline in the number of registered dogs," said an officer.
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He added, "If we received a complaint about the same, as per law NMMC can fine Rs 300 (one-time penalty), followed by daily R25 until the owner produces the document. The civic authorities can even seize pets. We will appeal to citizens and think about strict action in future. As of now, our aim is not to take action or to earn revenue but to create awareness among the pet owners so that the necessary vaccination of dogs can be completed."
"We are in the process of developing a mobile application for dog registration to help pet owners," said Shriram Pawar, deputy commissioner of NMMC. This can help pet owners to complete registration easily from anywhere. We are hoping the number of registrations will increase after the application starts. We are trying to start this application in 15 days. Our ward office team is taking various
incentives to increase the number of registered pets," Pawar said.
