Jaisalmer: Seeking to protect the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB), the forest department has installed bird diverters in Khetolai's Chacha village to reduce the mortality rate of the birds. Wildlife conservation society has put up 1824 bird diverters between two stretches of approximately 6.5 km in Chacha and Dholia villages in Pokhran tehsil after consulting with the forest department and ground surveys.
This comes after National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Centre last year through the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and other states to install 'Bird Diverters' on existing solar and wind powerlines as soon as possible and preferably within four months.
Reports suggest that six GIB have died in the last three years by coming in contact with high tension wires.
Wildlife conservator Kapil Chandrawal said, "A total of six great Indian bustards have died in the last three years by coming in contact with high tension wires. Recently, two birds died in Khetolai village, prompting authorities to establish bird diverters. GIBs are heavy-weight birds with low vision as a result of which, they collide with high tension wires leading to their deaths."
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About four years ago, the then Divisional Forest Officer Anoop KR had taken the initiative to install bird diverters. Salakha, Ramdevra and Rasla regions of Jaisalmer witness deaths of bustards.
As per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a statutory body under the ministry of environment, only 150 GIBs are left in India, out of which around 90 per cent are found in Rajasthan and Gujarat. As per researchers, apart from the GIB, many other birds also die because of collision or electrocution with these transmission lines at the rate of 10 birds per km per month totalling nearly one lakh bird deaths annually in 4200 sq km.
