The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has withdrawn its decision tocapture, sterilise and keep stray dogs at sterilisation centres till the G-20 Summit in the city concludes.

“Action plan issued by this office regarding picking of stray dogs from the vicinity of prominent locations of Delhi in view of the G-20 Summit is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” MCD’s Department of Veterinary Services announced on Saturday.

“Picking up dogs and sterilising them is a routine task for the MCD but after careful thought, we realised that there is no special need for picking up all the dogs from the areas mentioned in the previous action plan due to the G20 Summit due to which we decided to withdraw our action plan,” an MCD official said.

Earlier, the MCD has said that all street dogs will be picked up from the vicinity of the boutique hotels and popular tourist spots in Delhi, sterilized and kept at the NGOs until the summit was over.

New Delhi is set to host the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10.