The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Friday completed installing the first ‘bird flat’ colony in the city, at the GDA’s vice-chairperson’s official residence. Authority officials said the project has been initiated to provide a safe habitat for smaller birds like house sparrows, and more such colonies will be constructed in other housing schemes.
According to officials, the bird flat has small houses for birds and the multi-storeyed structure has been mounted on a pole. The structure comprises 60 small wooden houses for birds, and the upper portion is protected by an umbrella-shaped cover.
“This is the first structure and constructed in the garden, near a water source. A person has been given the responsibility of feeding the birds. The iron pole is to prevent other animal like cats, etc to climb up and harm birds. This is a pilot project and more such structures will come up at other GDA housing schemes,” Kanchan Verma, the authority’s vice chairperson, said.
Animal activists, however, said the structure has to be in a proper natural surrounding to attract birds.
“If the structure has ample shade and is close to sources of water, it is likely that birds like bulbul, gauraiya (house sparrow) and brown rock chat can start arriving here. It will take some time for birds to make it their habitat as the paint and finishing needs to dry up for the birds to arrive,” said Ruchin Mehra, an animal activist.
{{/usCountry}}“If the structure has ample shade and is close to sources of water, it is likely that birds like bulbul, gauraiya (house sparrow) and brown rock chat can start arriving here. It will take some time for birds to make it their habitat as the paint and finishing needs to dry up for the birds to arrive,” said Ruchin Mehra, an animal activist.
{{/usCountry}}“The cost of the structure is around ₹2 lakh and such colonies for birds can also come up in projects by private developers. We will request all private developers to build at least one such structure for birds in their high-rises. This will go a long way in providing birds with a safe habitat,” she added.
According to GDA officials, the concept of the project has been borrowed from a similar one executed by authorities in Rajasthan’s Bikaner.
The last time Ghaziabad authorities took up such initiative was in March 2016 when the divisional forest department distributed about 1,000 green wooden ‘sparrow boxes’ to residents and also installed them in government buildings.
The authority had planned the ‘bird flat’ project in July.
“During the 2016 drive, the boxes distributed by the forest department attracted birds, which made nests as well as came for breeding. GDA’s project is also likely to attract birds. If this is successful, it can be replicated in other areas,” divisional forest officer Deeksha Bhandari had said.