NEW DELHI: India’s capital has called a halt on plans to catch and hide thousands of stray dogs before world leaders arrive in the megacity for next month’s G20 summit, a local official said Sunday.

New Delhi’s municipal government announced Thursday it would round up canines outside boutique hotels and popular tourist hotspots, and keep them at animal sterilisation centres until the summit was over.

But the policy was abruptly withdrawn over the weekend, a local official told AFP on Sunday, without explaining why.