• Winged messengers of Odisha police keep glorious past alive: Carrier pigeon service not redundant till now
    Times of India | 22 March 2023
  • BHUBANESWAR: The first Prime Minister, late Jawaharlal Nehru, was in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on April 13, 1948, about eight months after India achieved Independence.

    Though the pigeon messenger service was discontinued in Odisha on March 31, 2008, trained homing pigeons are still being nurtured for ceremonial and symbolic purposes in Odisha, perhaps the only place in India.

    Nehru, who was scheduled to address a public meeting in Cuttack the same day, wanted to send an urgent message to the police in Cuttack, which was about 265 km from Sambalpur.

    As an experiment, the pigeon messenger service was first introduced by Odisha police in Naxal-affected Koraput district.

    Nehru seemed unconvinced when the cops at Sambalpur showed him the messenger, which would carry his message to Cuttack. That was a pigeon.

    Gradually it was expanded to 38 locations, having more than 1500 trained pigeons in districts, sub-divisions, circles and some police stations.

    Sharp at 6am, the pigeon started its journey by carrying Nehru’s message — ‘the arrangements for the public meeting should not be such to separate the speaker too much from the audience’ — from Sambalpur and reached the destination at Cuttack at 11.20am.

    When Nehru reached Cuttack later in the afternoon, he had no words to express his astonishment and happiness when he saw his original message along with the same pigeon there.

    Much water has since flown under the bridge.

    High-speed internet coupled with instant messaging services ushered in a revolution in the country’s communication system.

    This, however, has not made the carrier pigeon service redundant in Odisha till now.

    The Odisha police headquarters in Cuttack and the police training college at Angul still have pigeon lofts with 105 and 44 Belgian Homer pigeons.

    The carrier pigeon service was introduced in Odisha in 1946, when World War II had just ended.

    Though the pigeon messenger service was discontinued in Odisha on March 31, 2008, trained homing pigeons are still being nurtured for ceremonial and symbolic purposes in Odisha, perhaps the only place in India.

    As an experiment, the pigeon messenger service was first introduced by Odisha police in Naxal-affected Koraput district.

    Gradually it was expanded to 38 locations, having more than 1500 trained pigeons in districts, sub-divisions, circles and some police stations.

    A total of 19 pigeon lofts were then functional in different districts. At least one inspector, three sub-inspectors, one assistant sub-inspector and 35 constables were assigned to look after the pigeons.

    Despite the advent of modern communication devices in the 1990s, the state government continued the pigeon messenger service before officially discontinuing it in March 2008.

    But, the government decided to retain only two of the 19 pigeon lofts (one each at Cuttack and Angul) to keep the glorious heritage alive.

    “We can proudly say that the Odisha police pigeon service is one of India’s best kept secrets. We have around 150-odd trained carrier pigeons in Cuttack and Angul. The pigeons are now used and demonstrated in Republic Day, Independence Day parades, other national as well as state level functions for ceremonial purposes in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. They carry the message of peace, love and freedom,” said Arun Ray, the special director general (communications) of Odisha police.

    According to Odisha police sources, the comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) had some years ago raised objections on the expenditure towards the maintenance of pigeon messenger service, whose requirements are no longer felt in the modern days.

    However, chief minister Naveen Patnaik was not in favour of shutting down the pigeon messenger service.

    "Our CM wants to keep afloat the past glory and heritage. Even though the pigeon messenger service is not in use these days, the chief minister ordered to preserve the heritage," another senior police officer said.

    Gopal Chandra Nanda, who served as Odisha DGP during 2007-08, recollected his early service days in 1976-77 when pigeons were in use in the absence of wireless and VHF gadgets.

    “We were using pigeons to send messages during elections and natural calamities. The employment of pigeons in military operation was intended to supplement the normal method of communications like wireless, telegraph, telephone and despatch riders, especially in a state of emergency when all other methods fail or are inadequate,” retired DGP Nanda said.

    Odisha police said the carrier pigeons attracted a great deal of attention during the international postal exhibition in New Delhi in 1954 where a successful demonstration of the ability of the birds was shown.

    The pigeons also exhibited their prowess in 1982 when Odisha was adversely affected by flash foods.

    “Roads and bridges were washed away. All road communications to remote areas were cut off. During this critical juncture, our carrier pigeon service played a vital role in carrying official messages. Former president R Venkataraman, who was in Cuttack on December 10, 1989, was amused to see the ability of the carrier pigeons and appreciated the trainers,” an officer, who currently looks after the pigeon service said.

    The pigeons are normally trained by experienced members of the Odisha police when the birds are of 4 to 6 weeks-old and are capable of flying.

    Each bird is given a short distance flight in every direction for a radius of 5 to 8 km from the pigeon loft.

    This would give them a clear idea of the route and surrounding.

    After the initial training, the birds are given route training over all important routes.

    After a few days of the training, the distance is increased in phases by regular repetitions.

    After the route training is completed, the birds are given boomerang training.

    They are practiced to go to one place, take food there and return to the loft to take water.

    The baby birds, capable of flying, are kept inside the crates.

    They see the surroundings and get accustomed to the environment for about an hour.

    The pigeons are given rich a diet and tonics.

    “We feed all birds wheat, Bengal gram, peas, green gram, millet and maize twice daily (morning and evening). The quantity of food grains for each bird should be 60 grams (30 grams each in morning and evening. They drink water mixed with potassium permanganate,” a trainer said.

    While a pigeon’s lifespan is about 15 to 20 years, a trained bird can render active service for 7 to 12 years.

    They are sprucer and more streamlined in appearance with bright gleaming eyes, maintaining an average speed of 70 to 80 kmph depending on weather condition and can fly 400/500 km at a stretch.

    “Our duty starts around 6 am daily. We count each pigeon and check their health conditions inside the pigeon loft. Before bringing them out of the loft for regular training and exercises, we check the campus to prevent the presence of dogs, cats and other stray animals,” said Sanjay Kumar Mahali, a police sub-inspector of the pigeon messenger service in Cuttack.

    Mahali denied any pigeon ever went missing or lost its route during training periods.

    “We have trained the pigeons in such a way that they would never lose the routes. They will leave the loft in group and return in the same manner. They will never eat nor drink outside. Whenever we take them for demonstration to ceremonial events on Independence Day or Republic Day parades to Bhubaneswar, we start their route identification training at least a month in advance,” Mahali said.

    This January 26, at least 25 trained pigeons were freed at the parade venue on Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Bhubaneswar.

    The birds took 29 minutes to reach the loft at Cuttack, covering a distance of around 30 km.
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