Anguished pet parents of an upscale housing complex in suburban Dahisar are having nightmares of adamant society office-bearers demanding maintenance charges of Rs 2,000 per month to keep pets at home.
Heaven Plaza cooperative housing society has become a living hell for retired banker Sulaiman Batliwala since he adopted an abandoned puppy for his son during a pandemic in March, 2021. The canines have literally become a bone of contention between pet parents and the managing committee opposing pets in the society.
Last year, the managing committee of 220 flats passed a resolution against five flat owners, having pets, demanding additional Rs 2000 charges to the monthly maintenance bills.
“Joyo is duly registered, vaccinated and well-trained but the society has been objecting to pets and adding illegal charges to the maintenance bill to discourage pet owners. The society even tried to poison the pets through BMC on the pretext of putting poison to kill rats in the society,” said a visibly upset Batliwala.
While the other pet parents caved in to the illegal demands of additional charges after initial protests, Batliwala continued his fight and wrote to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Registrar of Housing Society, Mumbai police and Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). “I have taken all the pain to fight this illegal stand taken by society and approached all the authorities who have ruled in my favor. Society continues to brazenly ignore the orders and illegally charge additional costs for keeping pets,” claimed Batliwala.
Frustrated with the harassment and restrictions of keeping pets at home, IT professional Arif Merchant moved out of Heaven Plaza. AWBI secretary Dr S K Dutta had written a letter to the member secretary of Maharashtra Animal Welfare Board and the police to take action against the illegal levy of monthly penalty charges. Heaven Plaza society chairman Kurban Jiwani and secretary Azim Biyani refused to comment on the issue.
No Action
According to Sunish Subramanian, honorary animal welfare officer, Mumbai, in most of the cases AWBI had written to the police chief of the district as well as the Maharashtra State Animal Welfare Board but no action has been taken. “We regularly take up the issue with authorities. However, the police refuse to take FIR against such illegal acts of housing societies,” bemoaned Subramanian.
