Despite AMC ban, corporators fund bird feeders

Time of India

7 days ago

Ahmedabad: A civic contradiction has taken flight in Ahmedabad. While the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) banned public bird feeding a decade ago to control hygiene and health issues, the city has quietly built over 100 bird-feeding platforms since.
These concrete and metal structures — all funded by elected representatives and all executed by administrative officials — are now hotspots for pigeon gatherings, and public complaints.
The health and solid waste management department of the AMC imposed the ban in 2013, explicitly prohibiting feeding birds and animals in public to curb public nuisance and littering. "Violation of the ban was punishable with a Rs 100 fine under Clause 50.1(7) of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949.
The regulations were enforced through Resolution 77 on May 10, 2013," said a senior AMC official, requesting anonymity.
However, this has not stopped raised concrete and metal platforms from cropping up across public squares, gardens, and residential areas — all custom-made for placing grains for birds. While intended to support urban wildlife, they often attract pigeons in large numbers, leading to hygiene issues, clogged drains, as well as health issues including irreversible lung damage, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and chronic respiratory failure due to exposure to pigeon droppings and feathers.
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"Bird feeding in public space is a nuisance as people park their vehicles on the roads without a care to scatter the grains at these spots. This also attracts a lot of birds, mainly pigeons, that turn into a nuisance for residences nearby. They not only dirty the balconies and houses, but are also carriers of deadly diseases," said a resident of Navrangpura, refusing to be named.
In 2023, a 42-year-old woman from Jarod village in Vadodara district had to undergo a lung transplant in Chennai for a condition caused by pigeon droppings.
Earlier that same year, a 40-year-old woman from Ahmedabad reportedly underwent a bilateral lung transplant after pigeon feathers and excreta caused interstitial lung disease (ILD) that left her gasping for breath.
Interestingly, while AMC's own health regulations prohibit public bird feeding, the civic body has invested lakhs in constructing platforms that enable it. "It is built using grants allocated by councillors," said an AMC official, confirming: "Over 100 such platforms have been constructed in the last 10 years.
It typically costs between Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh, with some touching Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh."
The official added that at least 10-12 new platforms are set up every year, with the trend continuing unchecked. A random inspection found that nine such constructions had been approved in just Nov and Dec 2020, AMC sources add.
Senior AMC sources also added that most birdfeeder constructions were taken up without formal approvals, and there was no legal clarity on their permissibility under the existing ban.
"We sanction if there's a demand," said one councillor. "If the executive wing believes it violates bylaws, they shouldn't approve it."
The present municipal commissioner M Thennarasan, in July 2024, had directed officials to identify nuisance spots linked to bird feeding across Ahmedabad. Deputy municipal commissioners were assigned the task of mapping and planning closures of these areas. But insiders say no action has followed since.
Ahmedabad is not the only city where bird feeding is banned. The Maharashtra govt directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to stop bird feeing in Mumbai early this month. A minister cited several studies linking pigeon droppings and diseases like asthma, lung infections, and other respiratory illnesses for the reason behind the ban.