In a rare but an aggressive animal friendly gesture, more than a hundred irate members of Jain community on Wednesday forcefully opened the famed Dadar Kabutarkhana in north-central Mumbai and offered grains to pigeons on Wednesday, in protest against the decision taken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to shut down the bird-feeding spots in the country’s commercial capital.
The Jain community members staged a novel protest in protest against the BMC’s decision to implement the recent Bombay High Court's order, which had directed the civic body and the police to visit the place of bird congregations and feeding of pigeons at various Kabutarkhanas across the metropolis.
However, in a development that took BMC by surprise, some hundred-odd Jain community members stormed the Dadar Kabutarkhana. Some of the protesters climbed atop the bamboo structure, and pulled down the tarpaulin sheets erected by the BMC over the Dadar Kabutarkhana five days ago. After they managed to remove the tarpaulin cover partially, the protesters — who included women — offered grains to the pigeons gathered there, amid efforts to quell them. Earlier on Monday, members of the Jain community had on Monday taken out a ‘Shantidoot Yatra’ from Colaba to the Gateway of India in south Mumbai and made a fervent appeal to the BMC to restore feeding of pigeons at various feeding spots in Mumbai.
There are more than 50 kaburkhanas where people have over the years been congregating and feeding the flocking pigeons there. The Dadar Kabutarkhana is one of the
BMC shut the 92-year-old feeding spot in Dadar and lodged First Information Reports (FIRs), much to the chagrin of animal rights activists and members of the Jain community for whom feeding pigeons holds religious significance.
The police had lodged First Information Reports (FIRs) against the bird feeders during the weekend
Apparently realising that the BMC’s decision to stop feeding of pigeons at Kabutarkhanas would result in backlash against the BJP-led ruling MahaYuti Government in the forthcoming BMC elections, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Tuesday directed the BMC to permit the feeding of pigeons in a controlled manner.
Talking to media persons at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad), Fadnavis said on Wednesday that his Government was trying to ensure that “this long-standing tradition of feeding the pigeons is preserved without compromising public safety”.
Taking a dig at Fadnavis, Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal said that the state Government could consider setting up of pigeon centres near the buildings where industrialist Gautam Adani.
It may be recalled that in view of the health hazards that pigeons posed due to feeding of pigeons in public places, a bench of high court – comprising Justice Arif S Doctor and Justice Kulkarni had on July 30 directed the BMC to initiate prosecutions under Sections 270, 271 and 272 of the BNSS against persons who continues to feed pigeons in defiance of the directives issued by the BMC “since such acts would in our unhesitating view constitute a public nuisance and likely to spread diseases and ending human life. Such acts undoubtedly expose the public “to eminent danger from the spread of infections / diseases dangerous to human life”
Among other things, the BMC had directed the BMC to “take all the necessary steps and implement strict measures as they may deem appropriate to stop the congregation of pigeons at the various Kabutarkhanas across the city”.
The HC bench ad also directed the BMC to install sophisticated CCTV cameras wherever required in addition to deputing beat marshals/officers of the BMC to visit to all sites where “pigeon feeding continues to take place”
“The beat marshals/officers shall also ensure that people living in the vicinity do not throw grains/bird seed from their respective houses or properties,” the HC ruling had said.
“We also direct that appropriate police personnel are deployed to ensure that pigeon feeding is not carried out in defiance of the directives issued by the MCGM. In addition to ensuring that law and order is maintained and the beat marshals/officers of the Corporation are not prevented from carrying out their duties, the two judges had said.
The HC bench had also allowed the BMC to cordon off and cover the Kabutarkhanas with an appropriate materials to ensure that there is no congregation of the pigeons at one place. It had also directed BMC “to maintain hygiene and cleanliness at this Kabutarkhanas so that there is no nuisance to the public at large”
On Thursday, he HC bench will resume hearing two petitions filed by Pallavi Sachin and Gunvanti Mangalal Shah against the Maharashtra Government and BMC seeking the BMC’s intervention in matters relating to the civic body’s decision to stop feeding the pigeons at the feeding centres.
In view of the protests and the chief minister’s suggestion to feed pigeons for staggered hours in a day to preserve the dog-feeding tradition “without compromising public safety”. The BMC may make a submission in this regard during Thursday’s hearing on the case on Thursday.