The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Where will all these pigeons go?

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Monday, Sep 13, 2010
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Where will all these pigeons go?

B.S. Ramesh

Namma Metro work will soon eat into their roosting place

Lawns in front of the Karnataka High Court will be utilised for laying temporary roads
The road cutting across the lawns of Vidhana Soudha is almost ready

— File Photo: K. Gopinathan

Paradise lost?:The lawns in front of the Karnataka High Court have been the preferred haunt of pigeons for decades.

BANGALORE: It will only be a few days from now before the lush lawns in front of the Karnataka High Court and the Vidhana Soudha will fall prey to urbanisation, albeit temporarily. However, what has not been foreseen is that hundreds of pigeons that have made the lawns their home for decades may not continue to roost in the place any longer.

Green signal

With the High Court giving the go ahead to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) to construct the underground stretch of Namma Metro through the Cubbon Park, the corporation has already drawn up plans to utilise the lawns for laying temporary roads.

While the road cutting across the lawns of the Vidhana Soudha (from Gopala Gowda Circle to GPO Circle) is almost ready, the road cutting across the lawns of the High Court may take some time as the BMRCL plans to link this road to the one from Minsk Square through the park, in front of the old KGID building.

Once the bulldozers move in, the pigeons, which have charmed a large number of people, are likely to fly away.

The lawns in front of the High Court have been the preferred haunt of pigeons for decades. With the High Court being a restricted area and out of bounds for the public, except for litigants and advocates, traffic is not heavy around the building. Secondly, morning walkers, bird lovers and even advocates regularly feed the birds. Moreover, the huge building housing the High Court has given them enough place to roost and mate.

Order

Bird lovers had a scare a few months ago when the then Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, P.D. Dinakaran, asked the police guarding the premises not to allow people to feed the pigeons.

Even before the police could implement the order, Mr. Dinakaran was transferred to Sikkim.

Advocate-General Ashok Haranahalli says development is inevitable, but it should be balanced with respect to environment and nature. As far as the pigeons are concerned, he says they will have to find some other place. But for how long, and will they ever return, ask nature lovers.

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