Mumbai, (UNI) Criticising the BJP alliance government for fuelling controversies over closure of the Kabutarkhana (pigeon feeding zone) in Mumbai’s Dadar considering the health risks posed by pigeons, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshvardhan Sapkal today suggested that a model Kabutarkhana be set up on the land owned by state minister Mangalprabhat Lodha who owns large plots of land and high-rise buildings in city and actively participated in the ruckus.
He said that the courts have ordered the removal of Kabutarkhanas after evidence showed that pigeons cause serious lung diseases, however, the Jain community has demanded that these shelters not be removed.
Public health is important and should be prioritised, he empahsised and said yet, the government is deliberately fuelling such controversies.
“Farmers in the state are in crisis, the youth are unemployed, inflation is skyrocketing and law and order has worsened. The government is digging up unnecessary controversies to distract the public from these pressing issues,” he noted.
The BJP alliance government is more dangerous than the disease itself, he remarked and said that the government has also allotted 33 percent of Mumbai’s land to (industrialist Gautam) Adani.
So, Lodha and Adani should set up a model Kabutarkhana on their own land and create a new benchmark for compassion, Sapkal suggested.
Responding to a question, Sapkal said that it is being claimed that outsiders were involved in the protest at Dadar’s Kabutarkhana but this too is a fabricated narrative.
“Whenever any incident occurs in the state, the government conveniently blames outsiders to cover up its own failures. This is a desperate tactic,” he added.
Notably, opposing the closure of the Kabutarkhana, the members of Jain community had taken to the streets.
In response to growing tensions following the Maharashtra government direction to the BMC to enforce its ban on feeding pigeons, Malabar Hill MLA and senior minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha stepped in to mediate, assuring all stakeholders that a balanced solution would be found to protect both public health and the welfare of pigeons.
