Tensions flared at Dadar’s Kabutarkhana on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) morning after a group of protesters, primarily from the Jain community, forcibly removed a tarpaulin sheet placed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the pigeon feeding site, leading to clashes with police personnel.
The tarpaulin cover had been erected as part of the BMC’s compliance with a recent Bombay High Court order, which called for the closure of pigeon feeding zones, or kabutarkhanas, across Mumbai due to concerns over public health risks posed by bird droppings, including respiratory illnesses.
Despite police presence, demonstrators dismantled the bamboo-supported plastic cover, triggering a brief but tense confrontation with law enforcement officers. Several women entered the feeding zone, climbing the barricade and attempting to cut the ropes tied to the bamboos using sharp knives and blades, in a bid to resume feeding the pigeons.
“I have been feeding these pigeons all my life and my children and their children now feed them. We have never had any health concerns from these pigeons. We want medical proof to corroborate the High Court’s order. None of us have taken law in hand, all we wanted is to feed these pigeons who depend on us and if we don’t, we fear they will die of starvation,” one of the protestors, a Dadar resident who declined to be named, said.
