Get approval to run pet shops, says govt
Clearances from State Animal Welfare Board must
Owners of pet shops on Lal Bagh Road, Mahbub Chowk, were surprised and worried over the latest directions from Arvind Kumar, principal secretary, municipal administration, that they need to have mandatory clearances from the State Animal Welfare Board and register themselves with this.
The market has many shops that sell a variety of birds, mostly cagebred, as pets.
On Saturday, Arvind Kumar in letters to GHMC commissioner D.S. Lokesh Kumar and the director of the veterinary and animal husbandry department, said that none of the 70 pet shops in Hyderabad have mandatory registration under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Pet Shops) rules of 2018, and directed them to close all shops that fail to comply with the rules in four weeks. Pet trader Gulam Fareed Quadri said two days back GHMC officials visited the market and obtained the details of shopkeepers. “When we asked them why, they just told us that their senior officials had asked them to collect the details. We think that GHMC might reconstruct Mahbub Chowk or they might ask us to obtain licenses,” he said.
Quadri said, “We are not aware of the directions of the principal secretary. We are also not aware that we have to obtain permits from other departments as well. We have been engaged in this business for decades. This market is over a century old. This is our ancestral business. We care about our birds and pets.”
Another shopkeeper Mohammed Ilyas opened the shutter of his shop to show two workers feeding the birds and cleaning the excrement. “We have to care for them even in the lockdown as they need proper care,” he said adding that they were caned by the police for violating lockdown norms. “We are not cruel towards these pets and birds as their chirping is our livelihood. We care for them as we do our children, because with this business we are able to feed our family. We put them in the sunlight and provided feed on time even during the lockdown. We also ensure proper ventilation and light for them,” Ilyas said.