Conservationist Dr MK Ranjitsinh writes to Karnataka govt over protection of great Indian bustard

Veteran conservationist Dr MK Ranjitsinh has written to the Karnataka government over construction activities in Siruguppa taluk in the Bellari district and urged the government to re-examine its stance to help protect the great Indian bustard.

The Hachcholli-Raravi area of Siruguppa is one of the last three breeding centres of the great Indian bustards (GIBs).

Dr Ranjitsinh, a former bureaucrat and an expert on wildlife and nature conservation, has shot a letter to Karnataka's principal chief forest conservator of Sanjay Mohan, in which he noted that the total world population of this bird, the state bird of Rajasthan which almost became the national bird, would now not exceed a 100 birds. Ranjitsinh, who along with other conservationists have filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, requesting an injunction to stop any power lines, windmills and other infrastructure close to the remaining critical areas of the GIB, pointed out that construction work is ongoing despite the injunction.

The Supreme Court has formed a committee comprising of Dr Rahmani, Dr Dhananjay Mohan and others to apprise the Supreme Court in the matter. The Wildlife Institute of India has already delineated the critical GIB areas.

"As we petitioners have to now file a rejoinder in SC, we have gone to GIB sites to ascertain the current situation regarding the ongoing construction work. It was found that around the only remaining GIB breeding site in Peninsular India in Bellari, very high watchtowers are under construction and pits are being dug along roadsides for planting trees in the forthcoming monsoon," he said.

The GIB avoid wooded areas and prefer open grasslands and scrub where their excellent vision can be best put to use. "They are very shy of human presence and disturbance due to the persecution they have suffered. Looking at the pictures of the ongoing construction of tall pillars, it is very likely that the GIB will move away and perhaps try to go elsewhere to breed and will not survive," he said.

"I realise that the watchtowers are being made to prevent poaching of the blackbuck. Similar towers have been put up in the Rane Bennur Blackbuck Sanctuary in Karnataka. However, the primary flagship species of Bellari is not the blackbuck but the GIB for the reasons cited above. If checkposts have to be made to prevent poaching, they can well be single-storey constructions, not high looming machans which will scare away the bird," he said.

Ranjitsinh requested that the work be stopped for the moment and an expert committee comprising representatives of the Wildlife Wing of the state and impartial local bird experts who know and study the GIB and their population may be urgently sent to the spot. Stoppage of this work or its continuation could be on the basis of the recommendations of this local expert committee.

He said that while in the case of the windmills, powerlines and solar panels, the havoc had been wrought by other organisations and departments of government, in the instant case, it is the Forest Department itself that is undertaking the construction and as a result of it, if the GIBs leave the area, the Forest Dept alone would be responsible for it. "I am not asking for the abandonment of the work at present, just an impartial reexamination of it," he added.