Gurugram Municipal Corporation Hires Agency to Register Dogs

Gurugram: To further ease the registration process of pet dogs in the city, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has hired a private agency. The agency will hold door-to-door registration campaigns at the MCG’s request, where pets will be microchipped, and the ownership/vaccination records will be stored on these chips. Registered pets will be issued a metal locket which must be fixed to the pet dog’s collar.

Dr Ashish Singla, chief medical officer in the MCG, said the agency hired for the task will issue a metal token and a pet license card to each registered animal. The animals would be tagged or registered by the insertion of a microchip at the time of issue of the token and license. “This microchip will contain ownership and tracking data and a database of all the animals will be maintained by the private agency. The owners will also be issued a pet license by the agency. We request all the owners and RWAs to come forward and start getting their dogs registered on priority,” he said.

A pet microchip is an RFID or a radio frequency identification device. Microchipping a pet is done to establish ownership and act as a safety net in case of a lost or mixed-up pet, and the process has few (if any) drawbacks. Such devices are tiny, easy to apply, and require no power, making them a great way to store pet details against a unique identification number.

This is the first time the civic body has hired a private agency for such a task, and the agency responsible is the firm Pet Pulse. Pet Pulse stated they would start holding camps for the same from December 1 onwards. "The work of form distribution has started with RWAs who will distribute it to pet parents. After filling the forms, we will organise a microchipping camp following which the corporation will issue licence numbers and a pet license card and metal token bearing licence number will be issued," said Dr Amit Tripathi, the managing director of Pet Pulse.

According to the currently issued MCG rules, pet dogs bought within the jurisdiction of the corporation before April 1, or within seven days of bringing the dog within the MCG's jurisdiction will have to get their dog registered. Upon registering their dog successfully, owners will be given a metal token with their name and address, which must always be affixed to the dog's collar. The registration token shall be valid for one year from April 1 onwards or their respective date of registration.

MCG medical officer Dr Singla stated that the private agency had been chartered to simplify the registration process and make it easy to access for dog owners. "The agency will approach the residents in condominiums and plotted colonies to create awareness about rules for keeping pets, rules regarding prevention and cruelty of animals and similar issues," he said. The agency themselves have been asked to maintain a database of registered pets for three years after the project's commencement.

However, some have their reservations regarding the process and its usefulness. Chetna Joshi, a Gurugram-based animal welfare activist, stated that microchipping a pet is done by owners who are moving overseas with their pet, for which they require paperwork which is stored in the microchip database. “In Gurugram, there is no centralised cloud-based database where the information stored in a microchip can be matched. Who will track the dogs and how will microchips help is not clear. This exercise appears to be futile. MCG should first bring a municipal act which defines pet ownership and rights in line with the central act and thereafter take these steps,” she said.