MUMBAI — For the past four decades, Mumbai resident Premlata Soni and her husband have fed the pigeons that flock around a reservoir known as the Bandra Lake. Sometimes, it's a few fistfuls of corn and millet grain; sometimes, an entire bag.
Even during the pandemic lockdown, Soni would sneak out to feed the birds. She sees it as part of her Hindu faith, a way of showing connection to the world around her. "God wants us to do it," she says.
God may want it — but Mumbai authorities do not.
Pro-pigeon vs. anti-pigeon
For years, the city has tried to battle what they see as the scourge of pigeons — a bird that has thrived in a city of skyscrapers by nesting in apartment air ducts and near air-conditioning units. The pigeons have also found patrons in Mumbai residents like Soni. Pigeon feeding is seen as a pastime in this teeming port city of 20 million, a salve to loneliness, a connection to the distant world of nature.
Over the years, Mumbai authorities helped out too — by marking out 51 pigeon feeding spots, called kabutarkhanas, in the city. The Hindi word translates to "a house or place for pigeons." In neighborhoods without them, people fed pigeons on pavements and at traffic intersections.
But in July, amid growing concerns over the number of pigeons calling Mumbai home, the city banned pigeon feeding in public spaces. Authorities fanned out across the city and covered popular feeding spots with blue tarpaulin sheets. They also put up posters warning of respiratory diseases that can be triggered by exposure to pigeon feathers and poop.
The crackdown did not deter Soni. "Where will these poor birds go if we don't feed them?" she asks.
Vikram Kumar, who guards the Bandra Lake — which is a Mumbai heritage site – says dozens of residents like Soni defy the ban every day. But he doesn't interfere. The last time he did, he says, "one man punched me in the face."
Feelings run high about pigeons in multi-faith Mumbai — in part because for some communities, feeding them is a religious duty. Especially the Jains, a community that abhors harming any living creature.
Puran Doshi, a community leader, says the importance of pigeons can be traced to Jain scriptures, which say that one of their gods gave his life to protect a pigeon from a falcon. It's why they feed pigeons, he says — to honor his sacrifice.
After Mumbai banned pigeon feeding, hundreds of Jains and bird-lovers protested outside a popular kabutarkhana and tore up the barriers.
That upset some local residents, who said the Jains were asking for special treatment. Some critics even organized a protest against pigeons and the people feeding them. This disagreement over religious traditions has played a big role in the debate over feeding pigeons.
Pradeep Samant is the secretary of the Marathi Ekikaran Samiti, an advocacy group that champions Mumbai's largest ethnic group, Marathi-speakers from the surrounding state of Maharashtra.
"Pigeon is not an issue, it is only an entry point," says Samant, "He also accuses Jains of being "migrants" — since most trace their roots to the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. "But they are creating exclusive neighborhoods in Mumbai, not allowing people to eat or sell meat — and now endangering public health."
Puran Doshi, the Jain community leader, rejects the allegations. He notes that Jains have been in Mumbai for generations.
Mumbai is scheduled to hold its mayoral elections in early 2026. Both groups have warned they will mobilize voters around the issue of pigeons.
In October, one Jain monk said his community would continue their fight by setting up a political party with a pigeon symbol. Soon after, the municipal authorities relented and said they would allow pigeon feeding in four parts of the city.
The culture war over pigeons despairs ornithologist Mohammed Dilawar. He says the real problem is there are just too many pigeons. "This is called a human-induced population," he adds, attributing it to pigeon feeding. "It's not a natural population."
A 2023 survey by Indian birdwatchers estimated that the dominant rock pigeon species increased by 150% over two decades. But more pigeons mean more poop.
"There is a huge amount of economic cost to the pigeon droppings, as they damage a lot of heritage and commercial structures," he says.
Pigeons and pneumonitis
Then there's the government warning about pigeons as a public-health concern.
Dr. Sujeet Rajan, a lung-specialist from Mumbai, had told a high court in the city a few years ago that pigeon antigen — a protein found in their droppings — could cause a disease called hypersensitivity pneumonitis While the illness is treatable at an early stage, "most people realize too late, or report symptoms when they get more severe, by which time fibrosis has already started in the lungs," court documents from July this year quote him saying.
A 2019 study published in the European Respiratory Journal backs him up. It studied 60 Indians diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis and found that pigeon droppings were responsible for the infection in nearly 1 in every 3 patients.
There are no drugs to cure or reverse fibrosis, Rajan adds in the court papers. "Many of these patients require oxygen at home, and often die suffering on ventilators." And while a lung transplant is an option, it is "extremely expensive, and fraught with complications and poor survival rates."
Vaishali Chodnekar's husband died a few years ago after he was diagnosed with irreversible lung damage. She says the doctors believed it was likely because of the exposure to the pigeons nesting at their terraced apartment.
Chodnekar now runs a foundation to help others with lung diseases to get an early diagnosis and treatment.
"In India, any issue can get mired in politics and religion," says Chodnekar. "But the main focus should be on the health of the people."
Bird love
For some, it's neither about religion nor health.
Years ago, Pinku Kumar Goswami moved from his small village in north India to find his fortune in Mumbai. He now rummages through bins for a living, collecting plastic and glass bottles to sell to recyclers.
It's a lonely job. But he's found some who keep him company — dogs, cats and pigeons.
"Pigeons are lovely," he says. "If you feed them, they start recognizing you. They might even come and sit on your shoulder."
In a city as big at Mumbai, it's his way to feel at home.
Copyright 2025 NPR
