Environmentalists have written a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav opposing the construction of bird towers in Ujjain. He says that providing such facilities to free-roaming birds is ‘unnatural and impractical’.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, NGO The Nature Volunteers (TNV) Society has claimed that many such towers are being built in Ujjain in violation of the norms of the state government order issued in November 2021.
Society president Padmashree Bhalu Mondhe said in the letter, “Experience has shown that ‘flying rats’, as Indian rock pigeons are called, will take over these towers; neither the state bird paradise fly catcher nor “Golden orioles will go there to nest, not to mention water birds or various tree species.”
Wildlife expert and former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Suhas Kumar said that rock pigeons contain dangerous bacteria and a special type of protein that seriously damages human lungs.
Environmentalist Abhilash Khandekar said, cement concrete structure for birds is a new trend in Gujarat. Nature Volunteers had protested against this and got the state government to issue an official order to discourage and ban the construction of bird towers in 2021.
Ujjain Ward-27 councilor Gopal Balwani said that bird towers have been built near Vasant Vihar and Muni Nagar for 315 birds each. Ujjain Collector Neeraj Kumar Singh clarified that some person or NGO might have built such towers, but the government has no such plan.