Overview

• The Maharashtra government has directed the BMC to begin a month-long awareness campaign and to proceed with the shutdown of all 51 officially designated pigeon-feeding zones.
• Unauthorized sites in Santacruz East, Daulat Nagar and Santacruz West have already been removed and replaced with traffic islands and Miyawaki microforests.
• Residents in Dadar reopened the area’s iconic kabootar khana days after a brief closure, underscoring enforcement challenges.
• Officials cite studies linking pigeon droppings to zoonotic respiratory diseases and note that uric acid buildup corrodes infrastructure and increases sanitation costs.
• Animal-welfare advocates and pigeon-feeding devotees have threatened protests and legal action to block the dismantling of traditional sites.