Hyd co tangled in racehorses’ deaths under GHMC lens for ‘illegal import’ | Hyderabad News
Hyderabad: Just two days before 57 horses were transported from Hyderabad to Jabalpur, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has charged HithaNet India Pvt Ltd for “illegally importing” horses into the city.The company is currently caught in a controversy over the death of eight racehorses in Raipura village of Panagar in Jabalpur district. According to reports, these horses were among those it had transported discreetly from Hyderabad to Jabalpur without due diligence. The matter is currently under investigation by the Madhya Pradesh govt.The GHMC has charged a senior manager from the firm of violating section 540 (1) of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955, which prohibits the import of cattle, sheep, goats, or swine, or their flesh, into the city without the written permission of the GHMC commissioner.“The incumbent was found to import horses into GHMC without permission,” reads the notice issued on April 28 by the veterinary officer of Charminar zone. A copy of it is in TOI’s possession.While it does not give details about the count of animals or where they were imported from, sources claimed that about 100 Marwari horses including some retired racehorses, were brought to the city.Sources said that the GHMC swung into action after allegedly some disgruntled employees of HithaNet alerted the Marwari community about these horses not being kept properly by the company. The community, in turn, lodged a complaint with BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, who runs People For Animals.“Following a complaint from her to the Telangana govt, GHMC inspected these horses, which were kept in stables taken on lease from the Hyderabad Race Club (HRC),” said the source.When contacted, the HithaNet management said they were unaware about the need to seek GHMC’s permission to bring horses into the city.“We were in touch with HRC. Only after taking stables on lease from them did we bring the animals here. No other permissions were obtained because we did not think that was necessary,” said Pavani Gaddam, authorised signatory of the firm.Both the firm and HRC also did not furnish transport and fitness certificates for each horse, as sought by GHMC.“We, however, submitted other documents such as passports – unique identifiers for individual horses – vaccination details, feed and nutrition logs, case sheets, and registration certificates of veterinary doctors to GHMC,” a HRC official said.
