CONTROVERSY: ‘PINJRA TOR CAMPAIGN’ KICKS OFF IN CHANDIGARH AGAINST WALKTHROUGH AVIARY

Chandigarh’s first walk-through aviary was accused of illegally trying to buy exotic birds, with member of Lok Sabha and animal activist Maneka Sanjay Gandhi raising questions and asking the Chandigarh administration to immediately stop the “illegal work”.

Nevertheless, now a Legal notice from a Punjab and Haryana High Court Lawyer Arun Singla on behalf of his Client Gaurav Chadda again put the department in a fix. R K Garg, President of Second Inning Association, raised several questions pertaining to the alleged Illegal purchase of exotic birds and further caging them.

Meanwhile, the Animal Welfare Board (AWB) of India docked the department with a list of questions regarding the same.

The legal notice states, “That the Chandigarh Administration is constructing Walkthrough Aviary which falls within the catchment area of Sukhna Lake, where no construction is allowed as per law and is against the dictum of law laid down by the Hon’ble High Court of Gujrat in the case of Abdulkadar Mohmad Azam Sheikh Vs. State of Gujarat and others wherein it has been categorically held that the birds also have a fundamental right to live free in the open sky and further held that they should not be caged.”

On the other hand, Secretary Animal Welfare Board of India, S K Dutta raised several questions and said, “The Board is in receipt of email from President, Second Innings Association’s President R K Garg, stating that the Department of Forest and Wildlife, Chandigarh, is making a Walkthrough Aviary of birds in the UT, with over 1,500 birds of over 40 rare species. It has also been informed that these birds will be kept in enclosures in layer form made of net which will be covering the trees so that Birds may not be able to fly away, which is Illegal.”

As per the sources from the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, the concerned official to this department had already given the call to the latter in Chandigarh and had asked him to stop all these activities as soon as possible, and send all information regarding the project to the Ministry. 

Meanwhile, Socialites and activists of Chandigarh started the #Pinjara_Tod_Chandigarh campaign on Twitter and Facebook. Also, a video on the same campaign is rolling in WhatsApp groups welcoming city people to participate in this campaign.