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An unlikely home for waterfowls

Staff Reporter

Polluted tank is one of the reasons for their perching

BERHAMPUR : Flocks of wild waterfowls have started to perch at the polluted Ramlingam tank in the heart of the city.

It is astonishing that they are not venturing out to the clean water sport tank at the Biju Patnaik Park a few hundred meters away. The forest officials as well as the regular visitors to the Ramlingam tank area have noticed this regular presence of these wild waterfowls since past one week.

The Berhampur divisional forest officer, S.N.Mohapatra said the polluted environment of the tank is one of the reasons for the perching of these wild fowls in the midst of concrete jungle. The water of this large tank is now almost unusable for the humans. The roadside fast food vendors use it as a garbage dump. As it has not been cleaned for years its water is totally covered by dense growth of water hyacinth.

Natural food

Mr Mohapatra said this degraded environment of Ramlingam tank has proved to be a feeding zone for the wild waterfowls. The decaying garbage and the wild growth of hyacinth have increased the number of insects and other small creatures in the Ramlingam tank that is natural food for the waterfowls. As such scope for food is not available at the cleaned up tank at Biju Patnaik Park, the waterfowls are not venturing there.

For the hundreds of visitors to the Ramlingam tank area who are worried about the degrading state of tank and its polluted state, these waterfowls have become a respite.

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