• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura 

Carcasses of several hundred migratory birds of different species were recovered on Thursday from Tripura’s Sukh Sagar Lake in Udaipur of Gomati district.

Receiving information about dead birds been spotted near the lake area, a team of Forest department officials led by District Forest Officer (DFO) of Gomati district Mahendra Singh immediately rushed to the site and instructed for an in-depth inquiry on the matter.

Villagers reported that the number of dead birds is near to a thousand while the forest officials put the count at few hundred.

“The dead birds are scattered in the water body and it is very difficult to estimate the exact count. It seems that more than a hundred birds died. The reason of the bird deaths is yet to be ascertained, however, prima facie, it appears that birds died of pesticides used in the paddy field”, official sources said.

Preliminary report asserted that these migratory birds arrive at Udaipur from California due to extreme weather conditions as they prefer to arrive at Tripura during winter seasons. These migratory birds of different spies come at Sukh Sagar water body during winter season every year from Siberia and some other countries.

Speaking to the media, local populace asserted that they had never witnessed such a scene where so many migratory birds were found dead. They also alleged that a racket of bird poachers may be involved in this case.

The Sub-Divisional Forest Officer of Udaipur sub-division Kamal Bhowmik rushed to the spot and commenced the investigation process. Speaking to the media, he said that preliminary investigation revealed that birds succumbed after swallowing pesticides which was applied in the paddy land of Sukh Sagar.

However, Bhowmik did not ruled out the involvement of bird poachers. He claimed that this is a great harm to the nature which will ruin the beauty of Sukh Sagar water body.

The DFO Singh told Northeast Today that he had ordered for a probe and a report is being prepared on this incident.

Notably, Tripura’s rich biodiversity makes the state an ideal location for the migratory birds to arrive during the winter season in specific. Thousands of rare birds come here during winter season to locations adjacent to lakes.