According to the civic body, three applications on the issue have been received from the Dadar Kabutarkhana Trust Board, Yasmin Bhansali and Company, and animal rights activist Pallavi Patil. These applications are available for public viewing on the BMC’s official website
FILE PIC/SATEJ SHINDE
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has called on citizens to submit their views on whether pigeons at Kabutarkhanas across the city should be fed in a controlled manner.
According to the civic body, three applications on the issue have been received from the Dadar Kabutarkhana Trust Board, Yasmin Bhansali and Company, and animal rights activist Pallavi Patil. These applications are available for public viewing on the BMC’s official website.
The administration has invited objections and suggestions from August 18 to August 29, 2025. Citizens can respond by sending their views via email to suggestions@mcgm.gov.in or by submitting written feedback directly to the Executive Health Officer at the F-South Ward Office in Parel during office hours.
The BMC has urged residents to study the applications and share their opinions on whether feeding pigeons at Kabutarkhanas should be carried out in a regulated manner at fixed times, along with any related concerns.
On August 13, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the Bombay High Court that it intends to permit controlled feeding of pigeons at the Dadar Kabutarkhana for two hours each morning, from 6 am to 8 am, subject to specific conditions.
A bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Arif Doctor, however, stated that before granting any such permission, the BMC has to first issue a public notice inviting objections and then take a decision on allowing controlled feeding of the birds at the popular site in Dadar.
Since the BMC's decision to close kabutarkhanas (pigeon feeding spots) in the city and prohibit feeding of pigeons was in the larger interest of public health, the sanctity of the same has to be maintained, the court noted, while hearing a bunch of petitions.
Earlier, tarpaulin sheets were placed at the Dadar Kabutarkhana, a popular pigeon feeding site, by the BMC to prevent people from offering grains to the birds, a move which had led to protests during which the covers were forcibly removed by agitators.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government submitted a list of 11 individuals for a proposed committee tasked with conducting a scientific study on pigeon feeding in public places and its potential impact on human health. The court directed that the committee be officially notified by 20 August.
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