In order to facilitate the registration process of pet dog licenses in the city, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) is all set to start online registration of the licenses from this week. In the last financial year, over 4,000 local residents arrived at the premises of the corporation to apply for pet dog licenses. On several occasions, about 200 people arrived in a single day to apply for dog licenses which made it difficult for the MCD officials to make people follow Covid-19 guidelines at the premises. Many dog owners who arrived at the MCD premises to apply for the license even complained to the officials regarding the violation of basic norms which are must to follow during the pandemic like wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing in crowded places. Considering all such issues, the corporation has decided to launch an online registration system for pet dog licenses in order to limit the stay time of dog owners in the MCD premises to restrict the Covid-19 contagion among visitors and the staff of the corporation.

Informing about the online registration system, the senior municipal veterinary officer, Dr DC Tiwari said that the corporation would commence an online registration facility this week so that all the dog owners of Dehradun city can easily apply for dog licenses without any hassle. He said that through the online system, an applicant can register for a dog license by providing the relevant details in the application form. Once the applicant is registered, Tiwari said that the system would release a special number to the applicant and provide a specific day and time window to the applicant.

The applicant would have to arrive at the MCD premises at the set time to deposit fees for the license and within a few minutes, the applicant would receive a dog license, informed Tiwari. According to him, the online system will enable the dog owners to avoid long queues and unnecessary interaction with others besides saving their time. Tiwari said that the corporation plans to commence the online registration system for dog licenses on Thursday but if it would not begin that day due to some reason, it would certainly be available for the public by the end of this week. The officials informed that the corporation collected the revenue of about Rs nine lakh in the last financial year by issuing over 4,000 dog licenses which are the highest number of licenses issued by MCD ever despite the Covid-19 pandemic scare in the city.

They also claimed that thousands of people vaccinated their dogs after so many years only because it is a mandatory step to submit a vaccination certificate in the municipal corporation to receive a pet dog license. The officials also asserted that after commencing the online registration this week, the corporation would soon commence the inspection of pet dog licenses across the city and penalise the owners without the license.