Retired additional secretary Mahbub Kabir Milon has been annoyed by the crowing of a neighbour's rooster and asked for the birds to be removed. He also threatened police action if they did not comply. The neighbour was forced to slaughter and eat the rooster, but that did not settle it: Milon has asked for all roosters to be removed.

Acknowledging the matter himself, Mahbub Kabir Milon told journalists: "It is not quite like that. If they don't listen, I will have to seek help from the police."

One of Milon's neighbours, making the complaint, said: "On 18 March a man came and said the secretary (Mahbub Kabir Milon) wanted my number. Instead of giving my number, I took his number from the man and called him myself. He (Milon) asked, 'Are you running a chicken farm on the roof?' I said it was not a farm; I had built a bird cage and there were no birds in it. My children brought five chicks from the village, one of which is a rooster. He replied, 'If roosters crow, the area becomes a village, a backwater!'"

"In reply I told him many people in this area keep chickens, even in front of his house. Then he said, 'I will tell everyone these must be removed, otherwise I will go to the police.'"

After this, the neighbour slaughtered the rooster. Two days later, Md Mahbub Kabir Milon again sent people to the house, the neighbour said.

Another neighbour said he sent people from the society to their house, who said no chickens could be kept on the roof and they must be removed.

The neighbours ask what is wrong with keeping chickens in their own space, saying there is no such restriction anywhere. The prime minister, too, encourages people to raise animals and grow crops on their own initiative in open space at home, they say; should Dhaka be an exception? Other neighbours in the area also have complaints against Mahbub Kabir Milon. Some alleged that when anyone holds a social event in the area, he sends police to stop it.

Former additional secretary Mahbub Kabir Milon posted a status about the matter on his verified Facebook page. He wrote:

Living in the city. Houses on top of houses. A densely populated area. Several homes next to mine keep roosters and hens. I cannot sleep all night for the crowing of the roosters, especially from the last part of the night until the middle of the day. With this noise pollution it is impossible to sleep after the Fajr prayer. It is easy to imagine how terrible the noise pollution can be when several roosters crow together in the dead of night in the 3-4 buildings next to mine. So I sent people to every house to request that they not keep roosters. There is no problem with keeping hens, since hens do not crow. When one house objected, I said I would then have no option but to file a GD at the police station, because this is a city, not a village, a densely populated residential area. After that every house removed its roosters. Now there is no problem. For those who cause others suffering and mental torment for the sake of a hobby, who lack this small sense, I pray that they gain it. I have been strict all my life about preventing noise pollution. Everyone should protest like this.

On the allegations, Mahbub Kabir Milon told journalists: "My complaint was about roosters. You cannot sleep after the prayer in the last part of the night. The roosters' screaming is terrible. Four houses keep roosters; imagine what it is like in this densely populated area if these roosters all crow together. Do those who keep them think Dhaka is a village? After I complained, keeping roosters stopped. Now I think one house still has one."

Asked about sending the police, he said: "It is nothing much. If they don't listen, I will have to seek help from the police. We all live together. Shouldn't we look out for each other's comfort? My objection was to roosters; hens don't crow like that."

Before retiring, Mahbub Kabir Milon last served as additional secretary at the Ministry of Railways. Before that he was a member of the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority and, for a time, its acting chairman.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.