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Delhi civic body mulls tax on dog-breeders

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 14. Dog breeders beware; the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is watching you! Keeping in mind the "handsome'' amount of money dog-breeders in the Capital earn, the Corporation is now toying with the idea of taxing them.

``We are amazed by the good money these dog-breeders are earning these days which could range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000. We will be discussing the issue at the Corporation so that these people could also be taxed,'' said the Mayor, Jaishree Panwar, here today after the announcement of the formation of "Society for Stray Canine Birth Control'' by the MCD.

Agreeing to her "instant proposal'', the Leader of the MCD House and the Corporation's Standing Committee Chairman, Ram Babu Sharma, said, "We will be studying the MCD Act to find out whether there is any proposal to tax dog-breeders which have cropped up in several parts of the Capital. There were at least a couple of markets where puppies are being sold.'' The former Union Minister and renowned animal rights activist, Maneka Gandhi, who was also present on the occasion, said dog-breeding had turned out to be a big business. "At dog shows, I have seen people buying puppies for thousands of rupees. The other day I was amazed to see a puppy being sold for Rs. 2.5 lakhs.''

Over the years, dog-breeding has been a profitable business, particularly for slum-dwellers, and this was very common in Delhi, Ms. Gandhi said, adding that they engaged in breeding of all types of dogs.

The problem arose when these people leave unsold puppies, mainly of Indian breeds, on roads ultimately leading to the stray dog menace, she said.

Mr. Sharma also announced that the MCD would be going ahead with a stray dog census. "There is a lot of confusion over the number of stray dogs on the Capital roads. We need to know an accurate figure and that too zone-wise, so that programmes and policies to check stray dog menace could be formulated in a more accurate manner,'' he said.

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