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Orissa police may clip wings to save money

M I Khan in Cuttack

The pigeon messenger service used by the Orissa police for decades, the only one of its kind in India, could become extinct in the coming days.

In the age of Internet and email, when transmission of messages is just a matter of seconds, the police are thinking of closing down the service. For a fund-starved state, government sources say, the pigeon courier service has become an "extra burden."

Officially, however, the government maintains that there is no plan to clip any wings.

The state, a reliable source reveals, spends about Rs 200,000 annually to maintain these messengers, and engages some 40 constables and a few sub-inspectors to man the unit.

"Officially there has been no formal proposal as yet to wind up the service," sources say. "But a strong section believe that the government aid granted for the upkeep of the carrier pigeons should be utilised elsewhere in the resource-starved department."

The pigeon courier, a legacy of the past when there were no telephone or telegraph, has served as the backbone of communication during natural calamities like floods and cyclones. Today however, thanks to the information technology revolution, the service has become more ornamental than practical.

There are many to defend the pigeons, of course. "Pigeons are not a spent force," a policeman associated with the service says. "As the police have realised over the years, when the modern gadgets fail these birds take over."

The winged battalion consists of about 800 pigeons. This unit was created in 1946 in Koraput with the induction of Belgian pigeons. Initially maintained by the army, the Orissa police purchased the trained carriers by the end of World War II and started its own service.

When Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, visited Orissa in 1948 to lay the foundation of the Hirakud dam, it was a pigeon who flew ahead carrying the message from Cuttack.

The pigeons were found extremely handy during the unprecedented floods in River Mahanadi in 1982 and also during last year's cyclone.

"They proved to be the only link when every other communication broke down" the constable said.

The powerful pigeons of the homer variety can fly 700 km to 800 km nonstop at a speed of 80 km to 90 km per hour. When they are six weeks, the pigeons, whose life span is between 15 to 20 years, are trained to be carriers.

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