About 30,000 birds die each year as a result of collisions with power lines in the Abdasa region of Gujarat’s Kutch district, according to data from ongoing work by The Corbett Foundation, wildlife conservation nonprofit.
These power lines also threaten the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB). The problem is expected to turn grave as Gujarat is pursuing more energy projects, which may not adequately protect the birds.
At present, Gujarat’s total installed capacity of power stations is about 44.12 gigawatts (GW), which includes about 17.1 GW of renewable power projects. However, Gujarat has a major thrust on renewable power and the installed capacity of renewable power projects is estimated to cross 60 GW by 2030. The majority of these renewable power projects in the western Indian state are expected to come up in Kutch.
Environment and wildlife experts note that in the absence of proper safeguards, the region, which is a critical habitat for birds, would suffer enormous damage due to power lines needed for the evacuation of power generated as well as from increased human interference.
In India, Gujarat’s installed capacity for renewable energy projects is second only to Rajasthan, which also has seen cases of birds dying due to collisions with power lines.
The death of birds due to power lines is also being considered in an ongoing case in the Supreme Court of India.
Navinbhai Bapat, a birdwatcher and activist in Kutch, said that they had to approach the Supreme Court only because the Gujarat government “had not taken any actions for the long-term conservation of birds.”
“Several requests were made at the local and state level in the last two decades, but no action was taken for the GIB. We are not at all against development or power production. The villagers and farmers must get electricity. What we are requesting is just a change in the mode of transmission. Undergrounding will be beneficial to the last surviving GIBs and other threatened bird species of this landscape.” Bapat said.
During 2012-13, to protect flamingos in the Khadir region of Kutch, the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited (GETCO) laid 66-kilovolt (kV) power lines underground for 10 kilometres. Now, according to Devesh Gadhavi, Deputy Director, The Corbett Foundation, the same company is taking another 66-kV power line underground near Kunathiya village to protect the GIB, following the order of the SC.
On this, Gadhavi questions that if the government can underground the power lines why can’t private companies follow suit. During an ongoing case in the Supreme Court regarding taking power lines underground in Gujarat and Rajasthan, the private companies have voiced their opposition to the idea stating that it will make their projects financially unviable.
In the present case in the SC, the Gujarat government’s energy department is advocating the translocation of four female GIBs out of the Kutch region.
Yuvraj Sinh Zala, the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Kutch-West) in Gujarat’s forest department, said that meetings have been held with the concerned power department companies on the death of birds and action is being taken to protect them.
“In the present situation, it is important and a priority to protect the surviving female GIBs and preserve their habitat. Gujarat forest department is taking necessary steps to prevent harmful activities in the protected area and sensitising the staff about the conservation of birds,” he said.
“Kutch, especially Abdasa, is not crucial for the GIBs but is also home to more than 25 threatened species of birds which are important from the CMS perspective as well. Therefore, it is crucial to make this habitat safer; not only for GIBs but also for numerous other migratory species for which Gujarat and India both have given international commitments. GETCO has started laying underground power lines as per the SC order. The other power agencies must also follow this to reduce power line-induced bird mortality,” said Gadhavi, member of the IUCN SSC (International Union for Conservation of Nature-Species Survival Commission)
According to an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Gujarat government’s energy and petrochemical department in April 2022, GETCO has initiated the tender process for the purchase of 18,000 bird diverters, installation of which is expected to end by June 2022. The estimated cost of these bird diverters is about Rs. 29.25 crores (Rs. 292.5 million).
Pankaj Joshi, a biodiversity researcher, said “any rapid development either in block or linear will be a major threat to the movement of many wildlife species and may change the macro and microhabitats for several threatened species such as wild ass, chinkara, desert cat, jungle cat, desert fox, Indian foxes, hyenas, wolves, caracal, honey buzzard, porcupines, etc.”
“The approach road network in and around important fringe areas of Great Rann of Kutch and the Little Rann of Kutch will be very harmful to the movement of small and larger mammals; including many migratory seasonal bird species such as flamingos … and there could be an increase in incidents of road kills,” Joshi sated.
In addition, he said, due to probable changes in the surface water flow, many grasslands in the region may get impacted too. “Grass species such as Dichanthium, Sporobolus, Cenchrus, Chloris, Echinochloa, etc., which are supporting many herbivores’ requirements may get impacted too due to impact on water flow,” Joshi noted.