BackDefence projects: 2, Birds: 0 in India’s green vs growth trade-off
Environment ministry approves IAF base expansion at Great Indian Bustard habitat in Kutch
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New Delhi: The forest advisory committee of India’s environment ministry has approved the expansion of the air force base at Naliya in Kutch, Gujarat, one of the few places in the country where the Great Indian Bustard, of which there are less than 100, is found.
The ministry has to now sign off on the project; however, it usually doesn’t veto decisions of the committee.
Experts say that the death warrant for the bird, which lost out to the much more common but more colourful Indian Peafowl when the country was deciding on a national bird (the bustard was strongly recommended by India’s original birdman Salim Ali, but lost out for several reasons, including, an apocryphal story goes, the embarrassment from a misspelling) was signed long ago and that this is just another nail in its coffin.
The forest advisory committee doesn’t think so.
It approved the diversion of 128.92 hectares of forest land in Naliya to create facilities for the Indian Air Force’s strategic Naliya base, which is close to India’s border with Pakistan. The committee claimed that the bustard sanctuary is located about 16 km from the proposed air force site and a majority of the bird population is found outside the sanctuary area, in grasslands around Naliya.
The air force has for long reported the presence of the birds inside the airbase and areas surrounding the airfield, according to the minutes of a 29 July meeting of the advisory committee accessed by Mint.
“As such, it is opined that the project will not have any significant additional impact on the ecology of GIB in the area," the minutes noted. The bird has “become used to the disturbance caused by these planes", it added. The committee also observed that compensatory afforestation in lieu of the diversion of forest land has been proposed on 130 hectares and that area would be used for grassland development, suitable for the bustard.
The environment ministry declined to comment on the story but said it would get back with details in a few days’ time.
The Great Indian Bustard is classified as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its numbers have fallen from around 1260 in 1969 to around 300 in 2008. Recent surveys estimate a surviving population of less than 100, with around 80 in Rajasthan alone.
“Great Indian Bustard will be the first species that will become extinct in our lifetime," noted ornithologist Bikram Grewal said.
Grewal, along with a team of experts, submitted a report, Conservation of Great Indian Bustard and rationalization of boundaries of Desert National Park, to the Rajasthan government in May 2015 to tackle the dwindling population of the Great Indian Bustard but nothing has moved on that front.
If the environment minister approves the project at Naliya, it will be the second instance of the current regime doing its bit towards the extinction of a bird species.
Last year, the Prakash Javadekar-led ministry approved the construction of a radar station at Narcondom Island in the Bay of Bengal, home of the endemic Narcondam Hornbills. The entire population of the species, less than 350, lives on this volcanic island that is all of 6.5 sq. km large.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government also approved a road last year through India’s only nesting place for flamingos, the so-called Flamingo City, also in Kutch. However, the potential destruction of this site will not cause the extinction of the flamingo.
Since coming to power in May 2014, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has focused on the faster clearances of projects.
Javadekar reconstituted the National Board of Wildlife last year and since then, it has cleared nearly 200 projects. Some of these projects are located inside wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
Activists have often accused the board’s standing committee of merely doing what the ministry wants it to.
A recent study by EIA Resource and Response Centre, an environmental activist group, reported by Mint on 5 August, revealed that the standing committee cleared at least six projects and then ordered inspection of the project sites.
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