The
Times of India: Ahmedabad: Tuesday, January 12, 2016.
The State Board
for Wildlife has approved a 23-km Narmada Canal branch from Suvai to Chobari in
Kutch district, and also given its go ahead for a 289.32-km long 765 KV high
tension line between Bhuj and Deesa. A 10-km stretch of the high-tension power
line, to be installed by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, will pass
through the sanctuary areas in Kutch and Dasada.
The wildlife
board, in sanctioning the two projects, seems to have ignored warnings issued
by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) about building canals
around sanctuary areas, and also cold shouldered recommendations made by forest
officials to install underground or insulated high-tension lines to save lives
of migratory birds.
When asked
about the actions of the wildlife board, forest and environment minister of
Gujarat, Mangub hai Patel, refused any comment beyond saying, “It is the duty
of forest officials to ensure safety of the wildlife.“
A senior
forest officer said that after the December 2011 inci dent in Kadir in which 400-odd
birds had died of electrocution on high tension wires, the then principal
secretary, forest and environment, S K Nanda had decided that high-tension
power transmission lines through sanctuaries wo uld be underground or would
have insulated wires.
“Realizing
that birds come to the Wild Ass Sanctuary and LRK in large numbers, the
department wanted to take precaution and had recommended underground cables,“
said the officer.
While
permitting construction of a 23-km long canal through the Wild Ass Sanctuary
and Kutch Sanctuary , the SBWL igno red the 2015 re port of ICUN, which had ex
pressed con cerns over construction of canals around the protected area within
the sanctu ary. The report sta tes that the wild ass are facing incre asing
threats from human ac tivities. “Land use patterns have changed since the mega
Narmada Dam Project, which resulted in Sardar Sarovar canals all around the
protected area,“ observes the report.
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