This incident of discrimination against animals and pet owners is surely going to get the dander of pet lovers up. A family living in Anand Dham society in Sahibabad was ostracised by the RWA for keeping a pet! Not just this, two other pet owners living in the same society were also asked to either abandon their dogs or leave the society.
The whole incident happened when one of the pet owners tried to use the society lift with her pet labrador, Adwin, in tow last Saturday. But some society members opposed this and complained to the RWA, which immediately swooped down on the bewildered pet owner and two other families like them and passed the draconian diktat.
Talking to The Pioneer, Kunal Gilhotra, who was on the receiving end of the RWA’s prejudice against pets said: “On April 25 my wife Riya, who was returning to our third floor apartment after walking our pet dog Adwin, tried to use the lift, but was stopped by society members from entering the elevator with the labrador. On the same day, the RWA called an emergency meeting and identified three families in the building who had pets and issued them notices, asking them to either abandon their dogs or leave the society.”
And, just in case they had not got the message across loud and clear the RWA added for good measure that if either of the conditions were not fulfilled, the recharge coupons for power and water bills would not be issued to the three families, eventually leading to disconnection of the essential services.
Apart from Kunal Gilhotra, the notices were issued to Gaurav Gilhotra, a resident of Flat No. 301, and Renu Chaudhary, a resident of Flat No. 311, for the same ‘offense of keeping pets’. But while Kunal Gilhotra’s power and water connections were cut immediately, the power and water connections of the other two apartments were not disconnected since the due date for payment was yet to arrive.
“For two days my entire family and I were forced to sleep in my factory in Dilshad Garden at night. In the end I complained to the police. However, the Sahibabad Police didn’t act on my complaint. So on the third day I sent an SOS to Union Minister Maneka Gandhi who talked to the police and mobilized People for Animal (PFA) volunteers. Saurabh Gupta and 20 of his men came to our rescue and after much negotiation, the police finally agreed to ask the RWA to restore our power connection,” said Kunal Gilhotra.
Saurabh Gupta of PFA said that the UP police was not sensitive to such issues. “The Inspector of Sahibabad Police Station is unaware of the law and was asking us under which law he should book RWA office bearers. The RWA’s action is a clear cut violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens. Had it been Delhi, the issue could have become a matter of debate on national channels.”
However, even though the police had assured Kunal that the power and water connection to his apartment would be restored nothing was done till the filing of this report.
“We have taken up the matter after Maneka madam ordered us. We will send someone to the society to deliberate with the RWA officials and convince them to restore power and water connections to the apartment. If they do not agree, then legal action would be initiated against the RWA,” said Inspector Upendra Yadav.