Pune: A clean-up and bird-watching activity has been organized by the Swachh Kalyaninagar group at Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Yerawada on every weekend from this Saturday till May 20.
The initiative is supported by the Adar Poonawalla clean city initiative, Pune Municipal Corporation and volunteers.

The two-hour cleanliness drive will start at 7am on Saturdays while the bird-watching will begin half an hour early on Sundays. Participants will have to carry water and snacks. The Swachh Kalyaninagar group will provide gloves to pick up the trash.

The birding sessions will also have storytelling and environment-related programmes. Meghna Baphna, coordinator of the activities, said citizens must enjoy this natural heritage that Pune has.

Though the park was marked for biodiversity decades ago, neglect and apathy have reduced it to a dumping ground. There is growing concern among citizens and birders about the environmental damage to the 20-acre, wooded area.

Last week, 60 citizens attended a clean-up drive. Citizens had then said, according to environmentalist Erach Bharucha, who spoke to a group of them recently, the park used to be home to at least 500 species of birds. “We now only get to see 30-odd species.,” they had added .