Four flamingos die in World Wetlands Day eve tragedy

Navi Mumbai: In a shocking incident on the eve of the World Wetlands Day, four flamingos died on Thursday after apparently colliding with a huge arch sign board on the road to the Nerul jetty in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai.

The Mumbai-headquartered Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has expressed concern over the incident.

“It is a tragic incident that four flamingoes lost their lives due to head-on collision with the signboard of a maritime jetty,” BNHS Director Kishor Rithe said.

Morning walkers and joggers heard the sounds of the birds hitting the sign board and some of them saw the winged creatures falling down.

“I saw four lesser flamingos falling to death and two greater ones getting badly injured,” said Nerul-based environment lover Manish Pitkar who jogs here daily.

Other walkers such as Pritika Bhardwaj joined him and they tried to contact the fire brigade and some helplines.

A snake rescuer Sampat Mane arrived and they all tried to pacify the injured pink birds which appeared to be disoriented. The two birds later flew away.

“I tried calling the number 1926, unfortunately it is out of service,” said Pritika.

The walkers then gave a watery burial to the four small birds.

Environmentalists, who mourned the ghastly incident, demanded that the huge sign board must immediately be removed.

The jetty has not been in use as the water transport project has failed to take off, they pointed out.

The CIDCO can erect an arch on the Palm Beach Road and put up a small sign at the end of the DPS road, said NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar.

There are flood lights in the vicinity that cause light pollution, hurting the birds.

Kumar, who was the first to demand Flamingo City status to Navi Mumbai, recalled that the environment lovers also called for NMMC taking over the DPS Lake and maintaining it as a tourist spot. In Fact, the then NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar had even written to CIDCO expressing keen interest to maintain the lake in association with the BNHS. But CIDCO rejected the idea.

The tragedy brings the importance of protecting the migratory birds and their habitats into sharp focus, Kumar said and appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene and save the biodiversity before CIDCO buries the DPS lake, too.

Navi Mumbai resident Rekha Sankhala said she along with other concerned citizens would write to the authorities to have the ghastly board at jetty removed.

Thousands of flamingos fly into Navi Mumbai wetlands for resting when the tidal levels go up beyond 15 cm in the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS).

The State Mangrove Foundation and BNHS have developed the Satellite Wetland Management Plan for the TCFS envisaging that the wetlands at Belpada, Bhendkhal, Panje, NRI-TS Chanakya and Bhandup pumping station must be protected. Subsequently, BNHS started their studies at DPS Lake as well.