Nesting in paradise: A walk through lush-green campus of CRPF Group Centre in Jalandhar
Tribune correspondent Avneet Kaur and lensman Malkiat Singh take you through the lush green campus of CRPF Group Centre in Jalandhar, which is home to a large variety of trees, bushes and other vegetation and provides an ideal environment to the birds to breed, grow and live.
With dwindling green cover and cutting down of trees across the region, hardly any space is left for the winged creatures to take refuge. The villages of Punjab, which once had a number of mango, jamun and dheu (Artocarpus lacucha) orchards, providing ample nesting places, are now plains, devoid of any natural vegetation, turning green and brown, every six months with the harvesting season. However, amid shrinking open spaces, what comes as a surprise is a green oasis in the CRPF Group Centre at Saraikhas at Kartarpur.
The sentinels of internal security of the CRPF provide a safe and secure habitat to the winged species in tune with the motto of the force to provide a safe and secure environment in the country.
Spread over about 147 acres, the square-shaped camp, located on the erstwhile National Highway-1, Sher Shah Suri Marg, now christened as National Highway-3, was established in 1993. Over the period, it has developed into a full-fledged logistical base and administrative headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalions deployed across different theatres in the country for internal security commitments.
Recently, a sample survey done by the wildlife department reported approximately 28 to 30 bird species on the premises. The main species of attraction are Asian green bee-eater, Indian thick-knee, barn swallow, oriental magpie-robin, Red-naped ibis, purple sunbird, black winged stilt, black drongo, red-vented bulbul and others.
Commandant Jatinder Pal Singh said the lush green cover had provided a natural habitat to the winged species. He says apart from a large number of trees, even some 100-year old, there are two ponds on the campus, where ducks and rare bird species can be spotted on any given day. “Camps like ours or university campus, which has a sprawling green cover, can play a significant role in avian diversity and their conservation. But this can only be achieved by educating the common masses about the environment and its impact on our civilisation,” he added.
