HC Notifies Tripura On Death Of Migratory Birds
Agartala, Feb 2: The Tripura High Court has served a seven-day notice to the state government seeking an investigation into the sudden death of several hundred Purple Moorhen last week at Khilpara near Sukh Sagar Lake in Gomati district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice S G Chattopadhyay heard a Public Interest litigation (PIL) moved by an advocate Koushik Nath on Tuesday and asked the state’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest D K Sharma to submit a detailed account of the bird deaths along with the autopsy report within a week.
The petitioner alleged that the birds were killed by the poachers, as the state government had “failed” to provide security to the migratory birds. According to the petition, thousands of migratory birds fly lakhs of kilometres in the different regions of the world.
“It is the responsibility of the respective state/regional/provincial government to ensure their safety, security and pleasant stay in their respective geographical jurisdiction, but in case of purple moorhens in Tripura this time it was breached.”
According to a report, poachers had used poison to trap the Purple Moorhens causing the death of a few hundred birds within a day. After a two day-long search, forest and wildlife officials were able to collect some carcasses for autopsy. The villagers had, however, noticed a large number of bird carcasses floating on the lake.
Some of the villagers were found carrying the dead birds for consumption but soon after the forest department issued a ban on the collection and consumption of the bird meat, within an hour all the dead birds had vanished and the department did not find sufficient carcasses for investigation. However, as of now, nobody has been arrested for killing the birds. Tripura is a comfortable destination for migratory birds from the African region during the pre-monsoon days. The Purple Moorhen is a rare bird which travels a thousand kilometres from Siberia to Northeast India especially in Tripura via China.
