Jharsuguda : A 47-year-old man of Amnapali village takes initiative to protect birds in his village. He has been feeding and protecting the birds especially pigeons in his house and his neighbourhood by installing bamboo baskets.
Meet, Balram Pandey’s extraordinary work has made him a popular among the local village. He is a resident of Amnapali village, under Kolabira Block under Jharsuguda District.
“I use to live in my father’s house earlier, when I saw two pigeons came to my house and I had fed them with rice grains. The very next day, they again came and I thought to do something for them. I had purchased a bamboo basket from the market for them and kept them. Slowly the numbers of pigeons started growing.
After, that I made my house, I purposefully made a two-storied house. In the ground floor I and my wife lives and the first floor is open for the pigeons., I have kept opened the window of the first floor for the pigeons to come and stay. I don�t even paint the first floor.
Presently the count of pigeons has gone to 5,000. For accommodating I had to spend Rs. 12,000 on the Bamboo basket for them. I started feeding them 1.5 Kg rice grains which I eat the same rice grains are been feed them. Now I give around 5 K.g. of rice grains in a day. I have also asked every villager to follow the same, for which I have distributed a few bamboo baskets to the villagers. Additionally, for the benefit of birds, I have also constructed a water tank for them to take a bath and drink water. Personally, I think that all should consider the life of animal same as a human being and not treat them as an animal. By this initiative, even crows which were not found in my village slowly started coming along with sparrows too.
I have dedicated my life for serving birds as I believe because of their blessing only I am able to sustain my livelihood and would also request everyone not to kill any animals and consider all the animals like our friend and not kill any animal.” said Balram Pandey.
“In the present situation, slowly the birds are getting extinct due to various reasons but due to the step taken by Mr Pandey, to revive this to bring back them and create a healthy environment in the village. Everyone should come forward and follow him.” said Sukant Sahu, resident Kolabira
“It’s a noble step by the Balramji, his dedication towards the animals especially the birds is very appreciable. He has shown the way each individual should feel towards any animal or birds and not kill them. Everyone should learn from him.” Said Bhuwan Kishore Tiwari, a resident of Jharsuguda
