Committee to be formed for flamingo habitat in Navi Mumbai

MUMBAI: The death of six flamingos near DPS lake in Nerul’s Seawoods area this April resulted in questions being raised in the state assembly on Friday. State forests minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced that the government would set up a committee to suggest measures to protect the natural habitat of flamingos in the area.
Six flamingos were found dead and another six were found injured, leading to an outcry from environmentalists.
“The committee will include officials from the government and the Bombay Natural History Society. It will submit its report in two months. The flamingos are migratory birds who come from as far as Iran and protecting their habitat is crucial,” said Mungantiwar.
State assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar also said that the state government should make efforts to preserve and revive mangroves.
Mungantiwar said a post-mortem had been conducted on the 6 flamingos and it was found that four of them had died due to cardio-respiratory failure. Six others were injured, of which three died and three were recovering.
Avian enthusiasts and environmental activists are seeking a thorough investigation to find the cause of the death. “We, in coordination with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), wrote to CIDCO to stop being careless about the DPS wetland, but the destruction continued,” said B N Kumar, the Director of NatConnect Foundation.