Regulator’s guidelines on Rajasthan power lines ‘flout’ Supreme Court orders, threaten the Great Indian Bustard

Regulator’s guidelines on Rajasthan power lines ‘flout’ Supreme Court orders, threaten the Great Indian Bustard

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context: High tension power lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat, from solar plants, often lay in the flight path of the bird causing them to collide, often fatally, into them.

More on the News:

• In a move that helps solar power projects in Rajasthan but may hinder efforts to make the region safe for the endangered Great Indian Bustard, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) India’s apex power regulator has proposed that only power lines below 33 KV need to go underground and the rest be fitted with bird-diverters.
• CEA proposal was part of draft regulations issued on February 1 and open to public comment until March 3 that came in the background of an ongoing case involving the threat to the bustard and other birds from power lines.
• Environmentalists and conservationists approached the Supreme Court in 2019, following which it directed, in 2021, that all ‘low-voltage’ power lines, in areas demarcated as “priority and potential habitats of the Great Indian Bustard” in the Thar and Kutch deserts, be pushed underground.
• “Priority zones” are areas where the birds are known to live and “potential regions” are those where conservation programmes, such as breeding the birds in captivity, are ongoing.
• A majority of the lines that transmit power from Rajasthan’s solar projects have a rating above 33KV and several such proposed ones are expected to pass through the ‘priority’ areas.
• While there is no standard definition of a ‘low-power’ line, the Ministry of Power in affidavits to the Supreme Court defined them as power lines 132 KV and lower. The SC order would have thus required several existing and proposed lines to go underground, hiking the cost of supplying solar power. The court had also constituted a three-member committee whom power companies could approach; in case they wanted exemptions from undergrounding.

Great Indian Bustard

• One of the heaviest flying birds endemic to the Indian subcontinent.
• State Bird of Rajasthan.
• Terrestrial birds spend most of their time on the ground, feeding on insects, lizards, grass seeds, etc.
• GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.

Habitat

• Untamed, Arid grasslands.
• Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats
• A Maximum number of GIBs were found in Jaisalmer and the Indian Army-controlled field firing range near Pokhran, Rajasthan.
• Other areas: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Distribution:

• As per the studies conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India, there are around 150 Great Indian Bustards left across the country which includes about 128 birds in Rajasthan and less than 10 birds each in the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
• While the GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent, it has now shrunk to just 10 percent of that.

Protection Status:

• IUCN Status: Critically Endangered.
• Listed in Wildlife Protection Act’s Schedule 1.

Threats to GIB:

• GIBs are slow breeders and they build their nests on the ground.
• The species have been subjected to hunting and egg collectionin the past.
• Decline in prevailing habitat loss as dry grasslands have been diverted for other use.
• Pesticide contamination and increase of populations of free ranging dogs and pigs along with native predators, putting pressure on nests and chicks.
• Frontal vision is poor and it often collides with overhead power lines, leading to death.

Conservation Initiatives:

• Project Great Indian Bustard: It was launched by Rajasthan Government with the objective of conservation of the remaining population of critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) locally called Godawan.
• Firefly bird diverters: These are flaps installed on power lines, a reason for many death among GIB. They work as reflectors for bird species like the GIB. Birds can spot them from a distance of about 50 meters and change their path of flight to avoid collision with power lines.