'Flamingo killer' sign board taken down after 7 pink birds die in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai: After seven flamingos died after crashing into one ‘killer’ sign board near a Navi Mumbai wetland in two back-to-back incidents in a span of weeks, the board has now been dismantled.

Green groups have heaved a sigh of relief at the response from the local city planner the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra, but said it is better late than never.

The sign board, which only indicated the location of the waterways terminal at the jetty itself, did not serve any purpose. "It is like putting up a sign at the Taj Mahal proclaiming what the monument is," said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar.

The birds also face blinding light pollution due to the flood lights in the area, avid birder and activist Jyoti Nadkarni pointed out.

As four flamingos died after crashing into the sign board a fortnight ago, Kumar and fellow activists such as Rekha Sankhala and Jyoti Nadkarni have demanded that the sign board must be dismantled as it stood in the flight path of the migratory birds to and from DPS Lake, an intertidal wetland at Nerul in Navi Mumbai.

Three more pink birds died on Friday following which the activists pressed their demand again.

CIDCO joint managing director Kailash Shinde ordered the dismantling of the sign board.

Shinde, in response to a Whatsapp message from NatConnect, confirmed that the entire structure of the board across the road will be removed.

Flamingos keep flying in and out from the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary depending on the tidal water levels. The pink birds fly to DPS Lake, NRI-TSC, Belpada, Bhendkhal and Panje wetlands when the tidal water level crosses 15 cm. Hence, these water bodies are referred to as TCFS satellite wetlands.

The BNHS and the Mangrove foundation have been saying for a long time that these TCFS satellite wetlands must be conserved, yet CIDCO, unfortunately, has been in a denial mode, Kumar said. CIDCO is out to destroy biodiversity, he regretted.

“The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has already agreed to a suggestion from us to maintain the intertidal wetland as a migratory bird designation,” Kumar said.

The suggestion came up during the city’s first Flamingo Festival in May 2022 when NMMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar stressed the need to conserve flamingo destinations, namely the wetlands.

At this point, Kumar and fellow activist Jyoti Nadkarni requested Bangar to take up the cause of DPS Lake.

Bangar enthusiastically agreed and wrote to CIDCO saying NMMC would like to maintain DPS Lake in association with BNHS.