Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has created quite a stir on social media with his recent visit to Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He took to Instagram to share some boat ride photos from his trip where he is seen feeding some birds at Ganga, captioning it, ‘Happiness is feeding birds 😊’. Check it out:
However, fans promptly reminded him of the ongoing bird flu scare in various states of the country:
As per a report in News18, the District Magistrate of Varanasi Kaushal Raj Sharma said that action would be taken against the cricketer’s boatman, but not the tourist. He stated, “It was made clear by the police and the administration to the boatmen that they should not allow the tourists on their boat to feed the birds. Whosoever flouted these rules will be served notice and they will be asked as to why their license should not be canceled… No action will be taken against the tourists.”
“There was some information that some boatmen are not adhering to the administration’s instructions and the tourists on their boats are feeding the birds. So, these boatmen are being identified and tourists generally are not aware of such things,” he added.
In India, bird flu is spread mainly by migratory birds coming into the country during the winter months between September and March. Meanwhile, its outbreak has been confirmed in ‘poultry birds’ in six states, namely Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Kerala.