Forest department investigating legal action over drone shots near flamingos in TS Chanakya for Netflix movie

Navi Mumbai: The state mangrove cell has taken cognizance of a complaint against the use of drones to get dangerously close to flamingos resting at TS Chanakya for the shooting of the film Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, currently running on Netflix. Divisional Forest Officer Deepak Khade said that the Forest Department is exploring legal options in this matter.

NetConnect Foundation had drawn the attention of the Mangrove Cell and the Chief Forest Controller of Maharashtra to the sequence featuring flamingos in the film which is now being streamed on the OTT platform.

“The pink bird sequence is visible in the time period 1:03:44 to 1:03:54, apparently shot by a drone,” said BN Kumar, director of NetConnect, which shows flamingos resting on wetlands and mudflats. “Flying above.”

He said, “We have no objection to the beauty of flamingos being shown in the film, but the use of drones flying over resting birds is definitely objectionable.”

Kumar further said that Mangrove Cell head SV Rama Rao, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, informed him that the Divisional Forest Officer has been asked to take cognizance of the issue.

“We can send the notice after evaluating all the legal aspects. In such cases, permission for drone shooting is sought from the police and we are yet to confirm whether the filmmakers had taken it or not,” Khade said.

Kumar hopes the government will issue notices to filmmakers and tell them about the consequences of using drones near the bird. “Drones with sharp blades make whirring noises which can disturb or even injure resting birds,” Kumar said.

The mangrove cell had earlier ordered a probe against the drone shoot in the TS Chanakya wetland following a complaint by NatConnect and fellow environmental groups.

Nandkumar Pawar, director of Sagar Shakti, said, “Well, we are losing our wildlife due to meaningless infrastructure development and now we have a new threat of drone shoots. We hope the authorities will step in and stop this senseless and highly disturbing trend,” Pawar said.

Jyoti Nadkarni, an avid bird expert, said flamingos are endangered in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List and hence it is the duty of humans to take care of them and not expose them to further threats. . and Convenor of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills Group.

Environmental groups are campaigning to save the flamingos and their habitats as part of the city's biodiversity which is increasingly under threat.

The state government has also appointed a high-level committee to study and report on ways to conserve the DPS Flamingo Lake, one of the major flamingo sites. Kumar said, the committee report is awaited.