Rasheda Akhter from Manikganj
They come every year in groups as our guests! They come to give us balance of life, to beautify our surrounding and make our nature moderate and healthy. Yes, I am talking about the migratory birds. These birds have already arrived in our country and they are seen being busy to keep pace with the new environment in our nearby rivers, beels, lakes and forests! These birds have different size, shapes and colors as well. However, every year at the beginning of winter, the water bodies of the country are flooded with various colorful birds. All the native birds of our country gather around them. After the winter, they go back to their own address. The beauty and activities of the migratory birds bring a different dimension to nature.
The winter season has already approached and we observed in the nature of Manikgonj that the migratory birds have already announced their presence along with other native birds. It has been seen that including our native birds innumerable migratory birds gather in the beels of Harirampur, Shibalaya and Daulatpur upazilas of Manikganj district. Many bird lovers flock to enjoy the beauty of these birds. On the other hand, many are cruel towards these guest birds. They try to hunt and kill these birds which have been bringing beauty and balance in our nature every year during the winter. According to the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012, bird hunting and killing is a punishable offense.
Nonetheless, BARCIK has been facilitating development activities in Manikgonj to conserve and protect the nature and environment as well as creating safe sanctuary for birds and animals. Local youth and farmers’ organizations take part in these journey of BARCIK to ensure safe environment for all life forms. In consonance with its objective recently BARCIK and local organization PALAK (Pakhi o Paribesh Lalon kori which reads: Save birds and environment) an event was organized in Manikgonj to discuss on the issue of protecting the migratory birds. Deputy Commissioner of Manikgonj and Superintendent of police attended in the event where BARCIK and PALAK submitted a memorandum to them asking to take action against the birds hunting and killing.
While speaking to the representatives of the organizations deputy commissioner Muhammad Abdul Latif said, ‘It is the responsibility of all of us to protect the birds. I will inform the UNOs (Sub-district administrative in charge) of each of my upazilas to make arrangements for guarding the bird sanctuary.’ He also urged the people to work together for the protection of the birds.
Superintendent of Police Mohammad Golam Azad Khan said, ‘I have already held a meeting with the concern people on protecting winter guest birds. Those who hunt and kill birds must be brought under the law.’ Manikganj Press Club President Golam Charwar Chanu said, ‘We have been working for a long time to protect birds and the environment with advice and technical support from BARCIK. We have already set up billboards in various places and distributed leaflet to raise public awareness on bird conservation. We hope that everyone will support us in our work.’
It is to be mentioned that BARCIK is working for the protection of birds and environment through the formation of PALAK in 2013. Birds are our friends, we need birds to maintain our natural balance. We need to keep the birds alive in order to survive on our own.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin
