Tiloijan (Moran), Jan. 23: Hundreds of birds are dying at the Tilojan Tea Estate near here under ?mysterious circumstances?, bringing an ambitious avian conservation project of the Assam government under a cloud.
The exact cause of the death of the winged species ? which began four days ago ? will be known only after the forest department receives the reports on the post-mortem conducted on a few carcasses recovered from the garden. Environmentalists say that one of the possible causes of the deaths could be an ?overdose of pesticides? by the garden authorities. But the picture will become clear only after an official inquiry is completed.
The vast stretch of the garden is now littered with the carcasses and feathers of birds like the red-vented bulbul, pied mynah and black drongo. Garden sources said the pesticide, Thimet, had been sprayed on the tea bushes a few days ago.
Assistant garden manager S.K. Sarmah denied any ?wrongdoing? by the estate. ?We don?t know anything about the death of the birds. We are not responsible,? he told The Telegraph. Garden manager R.S. Rawat was not available for comment.
The mass death of birds has coincided with a ?bird festival? organised by the state government to create awareness on the conservation of Assam?s exotic avian population. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi inaugurated the festival near Jorhat. Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Niraj Verma said he has instructed the circle officer of Moran to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report soon.
Dibrugarh divisional forest officer Fazlur Rehman said, ?We will lodge a case with the police and the guilty will be booked under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act.? He said the assistant conservator of forest and a team of forest officials would visit the garden tomorrow to ?investigate?.
Chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Soneswar Doley said in Guwahati that he would decide on the course of action after receiving the facts from the district wildlife officials. ?We will consult the relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act,? Doley said.
Bishnu Ekka, who runs a tea stall in the garden, said, ?The birds started dying five days ago after the pesticide was sprayed. Since then, the garden labourers have been eating the birds.? Though the garden staff denied this, the labourers admitted that they had been eating birds in plenty over the past few days. Environmental NGO, Nature?s Beckon, has expressed concern over the incident and has written to the Dibrugarh divisional forest officer, urging him to take necessary action.
?We have already written to the inspector-general of forests in the ministry of environment and forests. It is a matter of concern that while the government is celebrating birds festival, birds are being killed mercilessly,? said Tushar Saikia, regional coordinator of Nature?s Beckon, who visited the garden today.