Dog owners in Maharashtra oppose 10-fold fee hike by civic body

The decision by Sangli municipal corporation in western Maharashtra to increase pet dog registration fee ten-fold has evoked the ire of dog owners who protested outside the civic body office along with their pets. The group of dog owners, with their pet canines in tow, staged a protest outside the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation office here, carrying placards and shouting slogans against the "hefty" fee hike.

The Corporation has proposed increasing the pet dog registration fee, which was Rs 500 earlier, to Rs 5,000. "Why should dog lovers be punished by the municipal authorities in their attempt to raise revenue. They (civic officials) are barking at the wrong tree," a protester said. Sangli Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Khebudkar said increasing revenue wasn't the primary objective of the fee hike proposal, which would be tabled in the Corporation's general body meeting tomorrow. "There have been instances of some pet and stray dogs biting children in the municipal area. In one case, the human rights commisison imposed a fine on the civic body after dog bite incidents," Khebudkar told PTI. "We carried out a survey of stray dogs in Sangli. It was found that some pet dogs are left on the streets by their owners and are allowed entry in their houses only at night," the senior bureaucrat said.

There are around 17,000 stray dogs in Sangli but there is no record of the number of pet dogs, Khebudkar said. "Since January this year, around 200 cases of dog bite were reported in the city, prompting us to take remedial measures, including the proposal to hike dog registration fee," the officer said. Established in 1998, the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation looks after the development of the Sangli-Miraj twin cities.

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