Habitat blues for peafowls in Longowal village as green cover set to go amid stadium construction

With the Punjab government all set to translocate 160 trees in Longowal village to clear land for an upcoming state-of-the-art stadium, environmentalists are crying foul, stating that the move will lead to a loss of habitat for over 100 peafowls.

The area where the stadium is set to come up has been home to the peafowls for the last several decades.

The public works department (PWD) states that the trees will be translocated to another location, but as per environmentalists it will be of little help. They say the peafowl habitat in Punjab has been rapidly shrinking due to deforestation and it is now confined to only a few areas now. The latest move will only aggravate the problem.

Amandeep Aggarwal, an environmental activist who has been raising his voice against deforestation in Sangrur and adjoining areas for the past 15 years, says peafowl will struggle for survival once the green cover here is cleared.

“Peafowl like to inhabit in flocks in areas covered by dense trees. This area should also have ground for forage. More importantly, they need to feel safe,” he said, adding that the tree translocation promises of the authorities will barely help as these birds will lose their natural habitat and struggle for survival.

He further pointed out that another piece of land, next to the tehsil complex, is lying vacant and can be used for stadium construction. “Why, then, does the administration want to disturb the natural habitat of peacocks?” he questioned.

The stadium, having a pavilion, 400m track, basketball, badminton, volleyball, lawn tennis courts and football ground, is being constructed at a cost ₹3.96 crore.

Meanwhile, authorities are passing the buck.

KS Sandhu, executive engineer of PWD department, said, “We have carried out an assessment of the area and found 160 trees. These trees will be transplanted to another location with the guidance of the forest department. The work related to counting of peafowl and preservation of their habitats comes under the jurisdiction of the forest department.”

Division forest officer Monika Yadav, said, “We are only responsible for giving the estimated value of trees to the PWD department. All other works will be done by them.”

Dharminder Sharma, chief wildlife warden of Punjab, said, “If their (peafowl) habitat is in private or other department’s land, then it is not under our jurisdiction.” He said the approval is to be taken from the department, which is owning the land.

Cabinet minister Aman Arora, who had laid the foundation stone for the project on Monday, said: “The trees will be safely translocated to other locations for which ₹2.16 lakh have already been issued. Besides, a part of the site will be spared so that the peafowls and other bird are not be displaced.”