The Chandigarh Forest and Wildlife Department has for now abandoned its idea of procuring 70 exotic birds, at a cost of Rs 70 lakh, for its park-cum-exotic bird aviary located at Nagar Van. The department, instead officials said, will focus on increasing the existing numbers at Nagar Van by creating an atmosphere which is conducive for breeding of the present exotic birds. The park-cum-exotic bird aviary at Nagar Van had been inaugurated by the then country's First Lady, Kavita Kovind, in November, 2021. The bird park sprawls on around 6.5 acres of land in Nagar Van and at present houses around 780 exotic birds, 280 of which are in pairs.More than three dozen pairs of birds of different species have been bred successfully in the park so far, an official said. The Chandigarh Forest and Widlife Department, through the Forest Society for Conservation (FOSCON)— a society set up by UT Administratior to look after the bird park — had floated a tender last year that had proposed a Rs 70 lakh spending to acquire around 70 exotic birds. An official said that the park has also been receiving some exotic birds as donations from residents of Chandigarh, who feel that their pets would have a better life at Nagar Van than at their houses. Albeit their numbers are not very high, most birds that are donated are budgerigars or cockatoos. The exotic pets donated by residents are first keep in isolation, as they are checked by veterinary doctors, before being allowed to mingle with other birds. "We have abandoned the idea of procuring more exotic birds for the time being for now. We decided to instead shift our focus on the successful breeding of the birds which are already available with us at the park. We have also decided to upgrade the facilities and will add more incubators in the bird park. So far, we have witnessed the successful breeding of pairs of wood duck, pheasants, budgerigars, and swans in the park. These exotic birds that are bred here have adopted to the atmosphere. We have also been working to add more features in the park. The overall idea of this park is to introduce people to exotic birds, get them to see it up close and personal," said Debendra Dalai, Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF), Chandigarh. An official added that the money which was to be spend on procuring of more exotic birds will now be diverted for the upkeep of the bird park. The bird park at present has two small aviaries and two-walk through aviaries. The society had floated the tender to procure a dozen different kinds of birds, some of which would have costed around Rs 4 lakh. The list of birds, which the department wanted to procure included black-necked swans, crested cranes, white swans, umbrella cockatoos, ducorps cockatoos, golden pheasant, silver pheasant. In August, 2022, at least 11 newly-born budgerigars had been released in the main enclosure of Chandigarh Bird Park by then Chandigarh Home Secretary, Nitin Kumar Yadav.
