While protesters brazenly tore open the tarpaulin installed over the Dadar kabutarkhana and emptied sacks of grain inside it on Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it was awaiting the next hearing of a writ petition related to the feeding of pigeons at kabutarkhanas in the Bombay High Court, which is scheduled to be heard on Thursday, before taking a decision on acting against the agitators.

A senior civic official told mid-day, “Action against those feeding pigeons at kabutarkhanas continued on Wednesday, and we are imposing R500 fines on offenders, as per the directives of the Bombay High Court. FIRs are also being lodged against those violating high court orders.”

On July 30, the Bombay High Court directed BMC to lodge FIRs against persons who, ‘illegally’ and in a ‘defiant manner’, are feeding pigeons at kabutarkhanas in Dadar and other spots across Mumbai. A division bench of Justices Girish S Kulkar and Arif S Doctor was hearing a writ petition filed by animal rights activists and trustees of Dadar Kabutarkhana Trust, against the BMC’s action. The court had also continued its interim order of not demolishing the Dadar Kabutarkhana, and will hear claims of it being a heritage structure.