NEW DELHI: A Dog is a man’s best friend, as the saying goes, but authorities at Indira Gandhi International Airport here don’t seem to agree. Indian Customs rules don’t allow travellers to India to carry pets as luggage on flights.
For foreign tourists unaware of this rule, their pets are detained in a room at the airport, which is a nightmare for the already harrowed animals who have flown thousands of miles. Once they land, they have to spend days and even weeks in the room as their documents are not in order.
Lack of exercise, proper care and food make them fall ill. Some are eventually abandoned by their owners.
A few weeks ago, a Greyhound had to spend a week in an isolated room as his owner had flown him in without valid documents.
He fell severely ill but was not allowed to get treated outside the terminal due to ‘legal’ issues after being denied entry into India. Finally, after multiple reminders, his owner flew out with him.
“Pets have to suffer and stay for long at IGI Airport because their owners refuse to take responsibility due to delayed response from airlines and other commercial reasons. Pets are only allowed to travel via cargo, which involves a lot of paper work,” an airport official said.In the last seven months Air Canada allowed three pets, Jet Airways, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa allowed one pet each while Aeroflot allowed two pets as luggage to be flown into India.