Gujarat GIBs to get males from Rajasthan: Centre

Gandhinagar: With the last male Great Indian bustard (GIB) gone missing from the state for over one year now, the ministry of forest, environment and climate change (MoEFCC) has decided to push for translocation of a couple of male GIBs from Rajasthan to Gujarat.
Soumitra Dasgupta, additional director general of forests (Wildlife), MoEFCC in an interaction with TOI said that the MoEFCC is aware that there are no surviving males left in Gujarat and hence the GIB population has reduced to less than seven in the state.
“We, as a part of the long-term conservation of great Indian bustards have decided to introduce a GIB male from Rajasthan. The ministry is coordinating with both the state governments and soon a meeting will be held to finalize the modalities.”
Dasgupta said that the in situ breeding programme in Rajasthan was not just for one state but it was for all states with GIBs including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,and even Karnataka where 12 GIBs have been spotted along with three chicks recently. The Karnataka government was asked to join the project, and they too have joined it.
“As a part of the long-term project, the MoEFCC will steps up efforts to get the male from Gujarat,” he said.
About two years ago, Vasundhara Raje who was the then chief minister of Rajasthan had refused to give GIB eggs to Gujarat for in situ breeding programme after which the MoEFCC and the Wildlife Institute of India shifted the breeding centre from Gujarat to Rajasthan. In August 2019, Rajasthan forest and environment minister Sukhram Vishnoi had said, “Even if the Gujarat government sends a proposal for getting a male from Rajasthan, it will be difficult to catch a male GIB and transport it to Gujarat. The Gujarat government should in fact catch all its female GIBs and send them to Rajasthan. Rajasthan has already set up a breeding centre with the help from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Abu Dhabi."
A WII expert associated with the captive breeding centre in Rajasthan, said, “Sending a couple of male GIBs to Gujarat may not be a fruitful move as Gujarat has not addressed the principal issue, the overhead high-tension power lines in the GIB habitat. We want Gujarat to move all the high-tension lines underground or sending a male GIB will not serve any purpose. We are told that Gujarat government has even decided to have it own breeding centre where they intend to catch female GIBs from Kutch Bustard Sanctuary (in Naliya) and breed with the Rajasthan males.”
Officials in the Gujarat forest department said that after the GIB population in the state fell to 20, it was proposed that the high-tension power lines be moved underground, but the state government has been dragging its feet. Even now, with no males left, the government has not addressed the issue.
However, Dasgupta said, “The ministry has asked the power distribution companies to take high-tension lines in the country including those in GIB areas underground for 33kV lines but for 66kV transmission lines the companies were reluctant, as it was a very costly affair. We can only recommend or suggest such steps, but we cannot force any one to take power lines underground.”