24 Aug Sambajinagar Pet Parents Demand Online Pet Licenses
Mumbai: Pet owners in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar have sought a change in the licensing process currently in place since the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) made pet licenses mandatory for pet owners.
Some pet owners opposed the decision, as the procurement of licenses is cumbersome at the moment due to the offline-only process. The lack of an online window, high fees, and absence of an official vaccination facility means pet parents in the city are opposed to the mandate in its current form. The CSMC has urged pet parents to visit its unit at Baijipura with the necessary documentation and INR 750 for the issuing of a license.
Varsha Kale, a pet owner in the city, said the process of issuing the dog license should be online. “There is a scope for a lot of malpractices and red-tapism in the offline system. Some other metro cities provide an online portal for getting the license,” she said.
Berryl Sanchis, an animal rights activist of the APLA advocacy group, said that the license being mandatory is understandable, but the process being cumbersome for pet parents is not. “The CSMC is charging more for pet licenses as compared to other cities. The fees should not be more than Rs 200, failing to which no one will come forward to take the license,” she said. Shaikh Shahed Shaikh Nizam, civic animal husbandry officer, did not respond for comment.
