Centre: No Great Indian Bustard inside Kutch sanctuary as on January 1 this yr
2 min read CITING INFORMATION offered by the Gujarat authorities, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Monday acknowledged that there was no Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary as on January 1 this yr.
“As per the information provided by the state government, there is no Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary (GIB) in the Kutch Bustard Sanctuary, as on January 1, 2021,” the Union minister knowledgeable the Rajya Sabha via a written reply to questions requested by Shaktisinh Gohil, the Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat.
Gohil, the senior Congress chief, had sought to know the variety of GIBs in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary as on January 1 and if it’s a indisputable fact that these birds of grassland die as a result of collision with windmills and electrical wires within the sanctuary.
The MP had additionally additional sought to know steps being taken or proposed to be taken if the birds are dying after colliding with windmills and overhead cables. But the Union Minister acknowledged that the query of the birds dying after colliding with windmills and powerlines and steps to stop them doesn’t come up as no birds had been noticed.
But Devesh Gadhvi, deputy director of Kutch Ecological Research Centre, a division of The Corbett Foundation termed the query ‘very tricky.’ Said Gadhvi: “The answer that there were no GIBs in the sanctuary on that given day is right. But the sanctuary is just two square kilometres. Majority of GIB population as such is surviving outside the sanctuary, within the eco-sensitive zone and surrounding area spanning around 2000 square kilometres. The question was very tricky.”
Gadhvi, who has completed intensive analysis on GIBs and their habitats in Kutch, nevertheless, added that it was not true that there are not any GIBs in Kutch. “Of course, within the sanctuary, on a specific date it is very difficult to site GIBs. Bustards are not going to stand there forever. They keep on moving from one area to other… But to say there is no bustard is completely wrong. Last February, there was sighting of four bustards together in Khirasara. Just on 9th of July, I saw two bustards and one was reported by a villager,” mentioned the researcher.
The two sq. kilometre Lala-Budiya Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary is situated close to Lala village of Abdasa taluka of Kutch.
