Adilabad: Bird man strives to preserve feathered wonders

Adilabad: Deeply saddened by the death of a sparrow due to lack of drinking water and worried about rising pollution, a B.Com graduate from Boath town has been passionately striving to create awareness about bird and nature conservation among students and people by conducting programmes in schools and villages of the erstwhile Adilabad district for the past six years. “A few years ago, a sparrow died due to dehydration right in front of me. I remained a mute spectator when that winged marvel met a tragic end. The incident left a deep impact on me. I resolved to do my bit for the conservation of birds and nature. I am targeting school children who are the future citizens of the country,” Venkatesh told ‘Telangana Today’. Venkatesh, a small businessman from Boath, has so far conducted nearly 1,200 awareness programmes titled Prakriti se dosti, paakshi ke madad karna (Friendship with nature, help the birds) in schools in Adilabad, Nirmal and Mancherial and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts. Besides, he sponsors feeders, plastic tubs and earthen pots for birds in schools every summer with the help of his savings of about Rs 5,000 per month and donations from philanthropists. The bird enthusiast, who runs a pooja samagri shop at a temple in the city, said he goes to school almost every day on his motorcycle along with one of his assistants and spends a day for the mission. He explains to the students for about an hour about the reasons for the extinction of various bird species and the measures to reduce them using statistics and findings of studies. The 47-year-old bird enthusiast from Adilabad said he makes people aware about these two causes on important occasions throughout the year. He actively participates in programmes on environment and bird walks organised in several parts of Telangana. He strives to enhance the understanding of the participants about the role of the bird community in the lives of nature and humans. He advocates protection of the environment by urging people to avoid plastic consumption, playing loud music and using dangerous fertilisers and pesticides to grow crops.