Animal welfare activist Jayanth Prakash said the clinics were chaotic and it was difficult to control the pets. | Photo credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Dog owners in the city have complained of overcrowding and overcharging at centers set up by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for chipping and have demanded an extension in the deadline for issuing pet licenses.
Residents have to pay a fine of ₹5,000 if they do not get a license by November 24. GCC allows residents to license their pets only after they have been chipped and vaccinated.
There are about 1000 thousand dogs in Chennai. Of these, about 61,000 residents registered their pets online. However, the GCC has only issued 21,500 licenses so far.
Anna Nagar, West Thendral Colony resident B. Tamil Selvan said the GCC should extend the deadline till January. “She should run camps in areas like Anna Nagar to provide free microchipping. Many residents cannot afford microchipping services at private clinics.”
Anju Parthasarathy, a resident of Korukkupet, said that although she took leave from her college to visit the Puliyanthope clinic and microchip her pet, the process took a whole day to complete. “The GCC needs to take strict crowd control measures and appoint more staff for pet registration, microchipping and vaccination as a matter of priority,” she said.
Animal rights activist Jayanth Prakash said the GCC clinics were overcrowded and chaotic. “Many had to wait for more than five hours and there were no chairs to sit on. There was only one person handling the registration process at the Pulianthope clinic. The pets growled at each other and were difficult to control. Most individuals faced problems registering their pets online. They had to pay ₹50 for registration, and another ₹50 if it failed. Many owners paid more than ₹30 for registration. Many visit private clinics for pets where they were charged a minimum of ₹2,000 per pet.
He added that owners with more than three pets could not register using a single Aadhaar card, thus creating a lot of confusion among pet owners. When pet owners raised questions about the matter, GCC officials themselves were unclear. They were asked to submit alternative Aadhaar proof at another location and get registered.
Published – 20 Nov 2025 23:54 IST
