Hidco to create awareness on biodiversity on International Owl Awareness Day

Kolkata: Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) will observe International Owl Awareness Day on August 4.

An event will be held on

the August 4 to create awareness about biodiversity.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched Save Green Stay Clean programme and has urged all the municipalities, corporation and state-run agencies to take steps to conserve nature. On Thursday, she took part in a rally on the environment and later distributed saplings to create awareness.

AK Sanyal, chairman West Bengal Biodiversity Board, VK Yadav, member secretary West Bengal Zoo Authority and Arjan Basu, noted nature expert will address the gathering at the meet to mark the occasion.

Hidco will also release a booklet on the biodiversity at Eco Park on the occasion.

There is Pancha More in New Town, which is gateway to the financial hub. There is a statue of an owl at the intersection, which known as Pancha in Bengali is considered to be auspicious.

Also, it is situated opposite gate No. 3 at Eco Park where biodiversity is conserved.

World Owl Board has been set up to prevent poaching of owl. Owls are considered to be lucky in Japan while in Western culture they are symbol of intelligence and knowledge.

This originates from the ancient Greek goddess Athena whose symbol was an owl. From Aesop's fables to Harry Potter the owl has been a source of constant fascination, folklore myth and legend.

There are two families of Owl. The typical owl belongs to the Strigidae type while the other one is Tytonidae (Barn owls). The main difference between the two is while the true owls feature the circular discs, the second type features the heart shaped discs. There are 225 species of owls.

The hoot of owl is not appreciated anywhere and Sukumar Ray in Abaol Tabol has compared the course voice of the wife with the hoot of Owl. Jibonanda Das has referred to owls in many of his poems.