Ludhiana: Facing a tough battle against the stray cattle menace on roads, the officials of Ludhiana municipal corporation would finally place the much-awaited bylaws for registration, control of stray animals and compensation to victims of animal attack before the MC house for approval.
The new house will meet for the first time on September 4.
With these bylaws, the civic body will be able to fix charges for registration of animals to control the increasing number of stray animals on roads. The state government had sent these bylaws in October 2017, but the officials could not implement the same in the city in the absence of a house.
The MC officials have proposed to fix Rs 250 per small animals while for the big animals the proposed charges are Rs 500. The officials have also proposed a fee of Rs 2000 per annum for dog breeders.
In case any registered animal is caught while roaming on roads, the owner will have to pay Rs 100 per animal for small ones while Rs 200 per animal for bigger animals per day.
But if is the animal is caught for more than two times, the civic officials can cancel the registration and penalty will also be imposed.
The officials claimed that these bylaws are very important considering that people abandon their pets or other animals on roads when they are ill or turn non-useful. They said it is because of this reason, the number of stray animals is increasing and commuters face tough time while driving on roads. In the past, several people have got injured too.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “Some major policies and even these bylaws were pending as there was no house. Since the new house came up in March, no meeting has been conducted. Now we will keep these bylaws in the house and will decide over the same.”
‘Good step’
Residents said there is serious problem of stray cattle on the main roads which is hardly resolved despite complaints. They said it will be a good step to start registration of animals which will keep number of stray under control and check attacks on commuters as well.
It’s not pet tax
Notably, the implementation of these bylaws and registration of pets/animals had sparked a controversy last year. The people presumed it as pet tax which made the state government clarify that no animal tax is being imposed in the state.
What bylaws say?
Registration of pets/animals will be mandatory and people will have to renew their registration on every April 1
Registration fee for small animals like dog, cat, pig, pony, calf, goat, sheep and deer will be Rs 250 per animal
Registration fee for big animals like cow, buffalo, bull, horse, camel, elephant, nilgai (bull/cow) will be Rs 500 per animal
Revenue generated through registration fee or penalty amount will be spent on maintenance of the cattle pound, payment of compensation to victims of stray animals, payment of premium to third party insurance of registered animals and cost of identification and veterinary health care of stray animals
MC will develop a cattle pound where they will keep animals found wandering on city streets
