New Delhi: For years, conservationists have faced an insurmountable hurdle in their efforts to save the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB)—deadly power lines that the birds fly into directly due to their lack of peripheral vision.
Last week, the Supreme Court approved a series of measures to protect the GIB, one of the world’s heaviest flying birds, from power lines. These ranged from the expansion of priority areas and creating a dedicated power corridor for overhead power lines to barring the installation of new wind turbines and saying ‘no’ to Bird Flight Diverters (BFD)—devices that make overhead power lines visible to birds.
A two-judge bench led by Justice P.S. Narasimha directed the Centre and the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat—where the bird is mostly found—to implement the mitigating measures suggested by an expert committee formed last year on a Supreme Court order.
The Supreme Court ruling came while hearing an application filed by the Centre and power companies that questioned the court’s 2021 interim order to take all power lines underground in an estimated area of 99,000 sq km.
The applicants argued that apart from causing an immense financial burden, the order would derail India’s national and international commitments to renewable energy and climate change mitigation.
To balance the conservation of the GIB with the country’s renewable energy needs, the expert committee recommended mitigation measures to meet all threats and called for habitat management across bustard areas. One of its proposals was a ‘Jump Start’ programme under which advanced-stage GIB eggs from Rajasthan will be translocated to Gujarat to be incubated by GIB females in the wild.
For this, the committee suggested tagging and GPS monitoring of the remaining GIBs, estimated at just 150 in the wild.
Other recommended measures included the consolidation of revenue areas around forest lands, the removal of non-native woody species, the restoration of grasslands after the removal of invasive species, predator management, restrictions on infrastructure within restored grasslands, the designation of important areas as protected, and pasture development to reduce dependency of livestock on grasslands earmarked for the GIB.
Expanding priority areas
The report suggested expanding priority areas where the birds are most often spotted and rerouting or undergrounding power lines in these zones, as well as the area just outside these zones.
In Rajasthan, the committee has increased the priority area to 14,013 sq km, while in Gujarat, it has been expanded to 740 sq km from 500 sq km.
Additionally, no new overhead power lines will be installed, except those of 11 kV and below in the revised priority areas. To further safeguard the GIB, no new wind turbines or solar parks/plants with a capacity of more than two megawatts (MW) shall be installed here. Moreover, expansion of existing solar parks in the revised priority area is not permitted, according to the report.
Since the suggestions do not completely omit the provision of solar parks in priority areas, the steps would still help local communities meet their increasing electricity demand, while ensuring conservation of the species.
Significantly, the committee has not recommended the use of bird flight diverters, citing their unproven efficacy and the high cost of installation and maintenance.
It said that in view of its other mitigation measures, primarily the relocation of high-capacity power lines, additional steps such as the installation of BFD are not required.
The committee concentrated extensively on the most sensitive issue: relocation of power lines.
In Rajasthan, the committee identified approximately 80 km of 33 kV power lines within revised priority areas for immediate undergrounding. This is 34 km less than what the top court had earmarked in its 2021 judgement for priority undergrounding.
According to the committee, in areas where undergrounding is not possible, the lines can be rerouted or insulated.
A joint committee, comprising representatives of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the State Transmission Utility, the Rajasthan Forest Department (RFD) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), will examine and decide on alternative measures in the aftermath of a detailed ecological study.
For existing lines of 66 kV and above in Rajasthan, the expert committee did not favour undergrounding as an option. ‘Undergrounding’ is technically not feasible in this category, as it could lead to technological and operational problems, such as grid security and threaten the safety of agriculturalists, it said. ‘Undergrounding’ could also create right-of-way issues and lead to difficulties in fixing damaged cables, longer outages, and financial challenges, including higher costs and the need for more substations.
This is because more time is required to restore an outage of 66 kV underground lines, compared to that of overhead lines. Underground cables could also lead to more generation losses.
The expert committee left it to a joint committee to determine the technical feasibility of undergrounding high-tension power cables, saying it preferred re-routing to avoid habitats in revised priority areas.
To provide relief to the power-generation projects planned in Rajasthan, the committee recommended a five-km-wide power corridor 5 km or more south of the southernmost enclosure of the Desert National Park.
This corridor will provide east-west connectivity across the region without compromising on the conservation of the GIB.
Additionally, the expert committee also eased blanket restrictions on the installation of power lines in areas falling outside the revised priority area, thereby supporting renewable energy projects that are essential to meet India’s climate change obligations.
The committee had also outlined guidelines for 11 kV power lines, applicable to both Gujarat and Rajasthan. All power lines of 11 kV and below should use insulated cables, a cost-effective measure to ensure electricity to all residents while eliminating the possibility of electrocution.
However, if any new power line of this capacity has to be installed on forest land or other critical areas, the committee recommended that those lines should, preferably, be laid underground.
For Gujarat, the committee suggested two power corridors: the first will have two parallel transmission lines, one headed East and the other West.
For 33 kV lines falling in the revised priority zone of Gujarat, the committee’s recommendations were quite similar to those of Rajasthan.
Certain identified segments would be immediately undergrounded or rerouted outside the revised priority area. In case either of the two is technically infeasible, the lines may remain overhead, but insulated.
They should be laid horizontally so that the wires are parallel to each other at the same height level. Nine critical 66 kV lines of 64.9 km have to be immediately ‘undergrounded’. If it’s technically not feasible for some stretches, the option of re-routing outside the priority zone or through the proposed corridors ought to be considered.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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