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Chandigarh: The UT administration plans to inaugurate the Nagar Van Bird Aviary by President Ram Nath Kovind, who will be here on November 16 for the centenary celebrations of the Punjab Engineering College (PEC).
Sources said the UT administration has requested the president’s office to inaugurate the Chandigarh Bird Park, but has not received confirmation to date. They added that if the inauguration of the bird park was not on the president’s schedule, they could have it inaugurated by UT administrator Banwari Lal Purohit.
Recently, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), in a response from RTI, clarified that the bird aviary does not fall under the definition of a zoo under section 2 (39) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recently authorized the construction of the bird aviary. According to RTI’s response, a CZA team visited the site on August 27 and submitted their recommendations. The recommendations of the CZA team were as follows: “Based on the list of species provided and the data recorded during the inspection, all species except the mandarin duck are non-native and not not fall under the definition of captive animals in accordance with section 2 (5) Fauna. Protection Act 1972.
The recommendations further read: “Therefore, the species should be removed from the collection, as the species is covered by Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 …… By therefore, in view of the proposed collection, said facility does not fall within the definition of ‘zoo’ under section 2 (39) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 ”.
In its response to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), UT’s Forestry and Wildlife Department justified and defended the next passing aviary in the city forest (Nagar Van) adjoining Lake Sukhna. “None of the rules, guidelines or laws were violated in the process,” reads UT’s response.
UT Chief Forestry Conservator (CCF) Debendra Dalai said in her response to AWBI: “The Forestry and Wildlife Department, Chandigarh administration has developed two walking aviaries in Nagar. Van within city limits to house exotic birds which are commonly bred. in India.”
He adds: “The purchase of exotic birds has been done only from registered, reputable and genuine sellers / breeders / suppliers and not from a gray market. These providers are registered with the Animal Welfare Board of Tamil Nadu (AWBT) and also registered on the ministry portal “Parivesh”. Before selecting the vendors, a committee made up of officers from different departments such as livestock and fisheries, finance department and forestry department verified all details and the sources of the birds were also traced by physically visiting on-site facilities. These exotic birds are housed for nature education and for any non-commercial use or public display ”.