The environmentalists are concerned about the absence of mi-gratory birds at the Vedanthangal sanctuary near Kancheepuram, but for the scores of children in the village, it could not have been better. After a gap of several years, they burst crackers outside their homes, without worrying if it would scare away any winged visitors.
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Chennai:
“The children were happy that they could burst firecrackers in their village after 48 years. Usually, we will go to our relatives’ house so that the birds will not be disturbed. We stay away from cracker on any occasion, including temple festivals,” said Sasi Kumar, a resident of Vedanthangal. “This year the children happily celebrated Deepavali in our village but we adults could not do that,” he added.
S Subaiah, forest ranger of Vedanthangal said that on October 16 last year, the sanctuary was opened for visitors and closed only on June 10. “We were planning to open it in October this year but couldn’t. Hopefully, the birds will return after some brief spell of rains,” he said.
The Vedanthangal sanctuary is surrounded by the Vedanthangal lake that is spread across 29.5 hectares. Rare varieties of birds usually migrate from 12 countries including Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar and China. Usually, more than five thousand birds visit Vedanthangal from October. However, this year, as the lake has dried up, only less than 500 birds are present and they too have started to return. This has saddened the villagers, who are praying for the monsoon to commence soon so that the lake was filled with water. Only then would the birds return. However, the feeling is not shared by the children, at least not with equal fervour.
“The children were happy that they could burst firecrackers in their village after 48 years. Usually, we will go to our relatives’ house so that the birds will not be disturbed. We stay away from cracker on any occasion, including temple festivals,” said Sasi Kumar, a resident of Vedanthangal. “This year the children happily celebrated Deepavali in our village but we adults could not do that,” he added.
S Subaiah, forest ranger of Vedanthangal said that on October 16 last year, the sanctuary was opened for visitors and closed only on June 10. “We were planning to open it in October this year but couldn’t. Hopefully, the birds will return after some brief spell of rains,” he said.