My cousin from the States was visiting me around Diwali when AQI levels were at their peak; my regular visitors, the pigeons, came flapping and sat on my balcony. My cousin laughed and said, “Is that a dove who’s turned grey because of the pollution outside!?”
Over to a more serious issue. In an apartment with three balconies, each of them is visited and used more by pigeons than the homeowners themselves. Three pigeons per balcony and yes, how can I forget the nursing ward in the shafts of our apartment.
They sing, they flap and then they multiply (if you know what I mean)!
As you approach the Sector 100-99 traffic light next to Royce Paan, towards the right-hand side is a man selling beej for people to buy and feed the pigeons. To my surprise, the area has hundreds of pigeons feeding and hanging around (quite literally).
Our city has a pigeon problem; it seems our authorities have bigger problems to handle. But the pigeon menace is a huge health hazard to us residents who are living in an area where pigeons are breeding.
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis “is not an infection but the way the body reacts to certain allergens or chemicals that are present in pigeon droppings, which stimulates the immune response in the body and particularly impacts the lungs”, said Dr. Vivek Singh, director of pulmonology and lung transplant at Medanta, Gurugram.
The symptoms of this disease include persistent dry cough, breathlessness, fatigue, and loss of appetite, among many others.
The only humane way of controlling this situation seems to be the use of contraceptives for pigeons which is not quite common in India but is being used in different cities around the world. This was attempted by the cities of Brussels, Toronto, Barcelona to name a few.
At a community level, we need to stop and restrict any pigeon feeding and also shut the roadside feeding businesses. Since this is a Noida wide issue, Noida Authority too should take up this matter on priority and manage the increasing pigeon population in the city.
