Archive · 26 Aug 2026
Collector Inspects Perungulam Amid Calls For Bird Sanctuary Status
Perungulam is a large water tank where many birds gather every year.
Some birds live nearby, while others travel from different countries.
People want the tank to receive special protection as a bird sanctuary or Ramsar site.
They believe this would help protect the birds and the wetland.
Thoothukudi Collector Vishu Mahajan visited the tank to see the birds.
He used binoculars and asked about the bird species and how they could be conserved.
He also visited the nearby Sivakalai excavation site.
There, he saw trenches and displays of old objects, including ancient rice grains and a knife.
Thoothukudi Collector Vishu Mahajan inspected Perungulam tank amid demands for protected status.
Thousands of migratory and native water birds have gathered at the wetland this season.
Perungulam is the last tank in the Marudur Keelakkal irrigation system fed by the Thamirabarani river.
Ornithologists, environmentalists and residents want the tank declared a bird sanctuary or Ramsar site.
Mahajan also inspected the nearby Sivakalai archaeological excavation site and artefacts found there.
- Who
- Thoothukudi Collector Vishu Mahajan, district forest officer Ilayaraja, and local ornithologists, environmentalists and residents.
- What
- The Collector inspected Perungulam tank amid calls to declare it a bird sanctuary or Ramsar site.
- When
- Tuesday; the birds have gathered during the current season.
- Where
- Perungulam tank in Thoothukudi district, near the Sivakalai archaeological excavation site.
- Why
- To examine the bird congregation and conservation needs amid demands for protected status and eco-tourism development.
- Waterbody
- Perungulam tank
- Irrigation system
- The last tank in the Marudur Keelakkal irrigation system
- Water source
- Fed by the Thamirabarani river
- Bird population
- Thousands of migratory and native water birds
- Protection proposed
- Bird sanctuary or Ramsar site status
- Other inspection
- Sivakalai archaeological excavation site
- Artefacts displayed
- Burial urns, 3,200-year-old paddy grains and a knife