Delhi civic body drops plan to clear street dogs ahead of G20
On Thursday, MCD issued an order, saying that it will carry out a drive for six weeks to remove street dogs from at least 50 locations across the Capital
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Saturday withdrew its order to pick up and sterilise community dogs from several Delhi streets ahead of the G20 summit in September — just two days after it was issued — following concerns raised by animal activists.
On Thursday, MCD issued an order, saying that it will carry out a drive for six weeks to remove street dogs from at least 50 locations across the Capital. The dogs, it said, will be kept at Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres till the G20 summit, following which, they will be released in the same locality.
This was modified the next day, with the reduction of the duration of the drive to a period of one week, after animal rights groups raised concerns over the legality of the process. The revised order mentioned that the drive will be carried out from September 4-7 and all the street dogs picked up from these locations shall be kept at ABC centres for their further care and feeding till the completion of G20 summit on September 10.
This order was also eventually withdrawn on Saturday.
“Action plan issued by this office... regarding picking of stray dogs from the vicinity of prominent locations of Delhi in view of the G20 summit is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” stated the MCD order on Saturday.
An MCD official earlier said that the drive aimed to ensure that delegates and tourists visiting the Capital during G20 do not face any inconvenience.
Gauri Maulekhi, an animal activist and trustee at People for Animals (PFA), welcome the latest move. “A PFA delegation met the MCD mayor on Friday and raised concerns about the proposed drive to remove street dogs. We hope that no surreptitious relocation of dogs will happen that will aggravate the dog bite situation,” said Maulekhi.
Animal rights activists had earlier pointed out that dogs picked up for sterilisation cannot be kept away for more than a week, and that cramping several dogs at ABC centres and shelters may cause infections and other diseases in animals. According to the guidelines laid down by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and ABC dog rules 2023, after sterilising street dogs, the civic agency should release them in the same area from where they were picked up.
MCD routinely relocates street dogs around key areas like Rajghat during movement of VIPs, but the relocation period usually lasts for 1-2 days. Similar long-term street dog removal drives were held in Delhi in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the corporation admitted that it released the dogs in Noida, sparking outrage among animal rights activists.