Supreme Court-named panel proposes ‘power corridors’ through Great Indian Bustard habitats | India News

The corridors proposed by the seven-member committee will be 5 km wide in Rajasthan and between 1 and 2 km wide across two separate zones in Gujarat. One member of the committee, however, is learnt to have submitted a dissent note, raising objections to exempting several power lines from mitigation.

The estimated population of the large bird — once considered a candidate for national bird — is below 150. Owing to its poor vision, the GIB is at high risk of injury and death due to collisions with power lines. In addition to these collisions, GIB populations have plummeted over the years due to hunting, poaching for eggs, predation and habitat loss.

In March 2024, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud had recalled a 2021 Supreme Court order that required all power lines in GIB habitats to be buried underground, following concerns about the technical and economic feasibility of such a move. It then tasked the expert committee with prescribing measures to mitigate GIB deaths from power lines while balancing conservation goals with mushrooming renewable energy development in these two states.

The committee has proposed a set of mitigation measures and restrictions based on zonal priorities:

* Existing power lines in Bustard habitats to be dealt with based on voltage.

* Immediate burying of certain lines identified by the Supreme Court in key GIB habitats.

* Lines of 220 kV and above be assessed individually for possible mitigation.

* In some cases, rerouting lines outside proposed power corridors to reduce risk of GIB collisions. For instance, in Gujarat, 79 km of lines have been identified for burial or rerouting outside the revised priority area.

* No new overhead power lines, wind turbines, solar plants over 2 MW, or expansion of existing plants in priority areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Only power lines of 11 kV (kilovolt) and lower capacities will be permitted — and strictly through designated power corridors.

* No restrictions on laying new power lines outside the priority areas.

Sources said the idea behind creating power corridors is to ensure that birds, especially in high-risk habitats like Jaisalmer and Kutch, aren’t forced to repeatedly navigate through a maze of criss-crossing power lines. These areas are densely dotted with transmission and distribution lines, which pose fatal risks to all birds, including the critically endangered GIB.

Another important mandate of the committee was to review the boundaries of the Bustard’s habitat.

In March 2024, the Supreme Court had accepted a classification of GIB habitat into three categories: priority areas (13,163 sq km), where the birds are known to live and breed regularly; additional important areas (5,977 sq km), which also matter but are less frequently used; and, potential areas (78,580 sq km), or large open landscapes where the birds might thrive. These zones were mapped using long-term field surveys and satellite tracking data collected by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Rajasthan Forest Department since 2014.

After reviewing the data, the committee decided to retain 13,163 sq km of priority area in Rajasthan. From the 5,977 sq km marked as additional, it has recommended including just 850 sq km. An area of 14,013 sq km is thus proposed as “revised priority area” for Bustards in Rajasthan. The remaining additional important area was excluded due to fewer GIB sightings and its importance for expected power transmission needs.

The focus in Rajasthan will be on Desert National Park, Salkha-Kuchri area, Sanu-Mokla-Parewar, Pokhran Field Firing Range (PFFR), buffer areas of Ramdevra and the eastern periphery of PFFR, Dholiya, Khetolai, and Chacha. In Gujarat, the committee retained the priority area of 500 sq km and has proposed a consolidated revised priority area of 740 sq km.

Wildlife biologist Sumit Dookia, faculty at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, and Honorary Scientific Advisor to the ERDS Foundation, which works on community-led GIB conservation, said the area excluded in Rajasthan has Bustard presence.

“GIBs use the additional important areas in the non-breeding season in the old enclosed area in Rasla. Two known GIB deaths have been documented from here. Just adjoining to this enclosure is a very big Shree Degray Mata Oran (Deemed Forest) and every year 5-10 GIBs visit these areas, staying for days in some remote undisturbed parts of this Oran. Until a few years back, this area was used by GIBs as a corridor from Ramdevra-Pokhran side to Desert National Park,” he said.

Submitting a dissent note, one member of the committee, Devesh Gadhavi, Deputy Director, The Corbett Foundation, is learnt to have submitted that all existing overhead power lines of 33 kV and above within the revised priority area should either be buried underground or rerouted through power corridors or outside priority areas altogether.

The committee has recommended immediate undergrounding of 80 km of 33 kV lines in Rajasthan and 79 km in Gujarat’s Kutch region, along with mitigation for other lines through rerouting or insulation.

Another point of disagreement was the risk posed by an upcoming 400 kV line in Bhachunda and two 220 kV lines associated with the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO), without suggesting measures to mitigate their threat to GIBs.

An expert from the renewable energy industry said, “Rerouting is clearly less costly than undergrounding, but it might be equally time-consuming.”

Among key conservation measures suggested is using the “jump start” method to revive Gujarat’s GIB population. This will involve using eggs in advanced stages from conservation breeding facilities in Rajasthan, which will be incubated by wild GIB females. Tagging of the remaining Gujarat GIBs has also been recommended.