Rajasthan village shows the art of setting up home for pigeons

The initiative, that began nearly two decades ago, has become a success as over 500 pigeons currently dwell in around 250-300 tin homes hung in the form of a festoon near the same step well now.Sankarda is a small village with a population of around 850 people and 150-160 families.

Sankarda village of Rajasthan is leading the way in eco-conservation with its curbs on smoking and betel chewing, and finding homes for dislodged pigeons. Located 12 kms from Bundi district headquarters, Sankarda village has managed to find home for many of its pigeons which were dislodged when walls of a local 'baoli' (step well) were cemented along with all the pigeonholes it was marked with.

Noticing many pigeons getting mauled by stray cats and dogs, villagers resolved to find them a new home. The initiative, that began nearly two decades ago, has become a success as over 500 pigeons currently dwell in around 250-300 tin homes hung in the form of a festoon near the same step well now.

Sankarda is a small village with a population of around 850 people and 150-160 families. It has only one government secondary school.

Thanks to the efforts of the locals, it now frequently attracts a large number of visitors from nearby areas who are drawn towards it by its bird and eco-friendly initiatives. The effort to house pigeons was started by Ramswroop Gurjar (65), late Dayaram Saini, Prabhuji Kushwah and a few others of the village in 2003 -- the year the step well walls were cemented.

To house the pigeons, villagers began collecting used tin boxes from households, and when they had about 60-70 of them, they cut holes in the tin, turned them into a festoon, and hung it near the step well. "Currently there are 4-5 festoons of around 250-300 tin boxes, where over 500 pigeons dwell safely," said Urmila Kushwah, an ASHA worker, serving in the village since 2006. There is no tea stall or betel shop in the village, however a few people of the village smoke bidi, and they do it only when they go out of the village, a local man said.

"We are proud to serve in a village that has set a benchmark for conservation and protection of birds and pigeons," Dhanraj Bangdi, a school teacher from the village, said.