Jamshedpur, July 23: Now, it will be mandatory for city residents to give information to the local civic body before bringing an animal in your house. It will also be necessary to register the pet by paying his annual fee.
The Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) will soon start registration of dogs, cats and any other animal that comes under pet category. Though at a nascent stage, JNAC have already started taking steps to ensure safety of the animals.
Sanjay Kumar Pandey, special officer, JNAC said that steps are being taken as per mandatory provision under municipality act. The move is aimed to keep a record of the animals.
It may be mentioned that last year Ranchi Municipal Corporation proposed this idea but couldn�t proceed and thus if implemented in Jamshedpur, it would be the first city in the state to have a pet registration process.
The JNAC official said that there are trying to come up with a website with provisions for online registration.
Pets that get registered under civic bodies are given collars or tokens which can also prove to be helpful when owners abandon their pets when they grow old or catch disease.
Though the registration fee is not yet fixed as officials of JNAC are working on the charges prevalent in other cities. Officials involved in the project have also contacted pet lovers, social organisations that work on animal welfare.
�If any pet is lost, the licence and the registration number of the dog can make it easier for the civic body and the owner to trace it,� said the official.
According to an official, it will be necessary to do the registration of all the pet animals, which are sold or kept in the houses.Sources said the primary objective of getting pet dogs registered was to keep tabs on them.
�People are unaware of the norm, so they have never got their dogs registered. The civic body is responsible for the poor response to the rule. The civic body has never undertaken any initiative, like organising camps for registering animals and providing licence to dog owners,� said a member of Kennel Club. He stressed upon the need of initiating efforts to publicise the importance of getting pets registered.
�To be honest, I am unaware that it is essential to register pets. I don�t know what procedures need to be followed to get my dogs registered,� said a resident of Sakchi, who owns two dogs.