BENGALURU: Although all construction activities has stopped in the Great Indian Bustard breeding area of Siruguppa, wildlife activists are looking for “mitigation measures” from GIB experts to bring back these critically endangered birds. In this regard, the High Court recently directed the State government to appoint an ‘expert’ from a government-based agency who can suggest corrective measures in the wake of disastrous construction activity by the forest department here.
The court asked the government to make a statement, on whether it was willing to appoint an expert from Bombay Natural History Society or Wildlife Institute of India to study the “affected grassland habitat” of the birds. The court said the expert should have worked with GIB and published scientific papers, so as to study the problem and suggest mitigation measures in their habitat.
Santosh Martin, wildlife conservationist who filed a PIL, raised objections to the appointment of a primatologist from Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, instead of a GIB expert like Asad R Rahmani, former director, BNHS, or Dr M K Ranjitsinh, wildlife expert.
According to Martin, due to the disturbance caused by men and machines, the breeding birds seem to have disappeared. “They were seen till the construction activity started in 2019. I raised objections against the ‘conservation measures’ taken up by DCF, Ballari, as also the forest department-appointed expert from SACON to prepare the observation report, as he is a primatologist with little or no experience of GIB,” he said. GIB experts say the birds have moved away, maybe to adjacent areas, and could not be traced. Every year, chicks were observed in this area, but were not seen last year.
In 2016-17, a rapid assessment in Siruguppa revealed 12 birds within 50 sqkm along the Karnataka-Andhra border. A male, female and juvenile GIB were photographed in a single frame. Now, just 100 metres from here stands a two-storied anti-poaching camp. Building towers and electric lines are fatal for them as they don’t have a clear frontal view and can be killed.
The expert team that visited Siruguppa said all buildings, electric lines, borewells, trees etc are disastrous for the birds’ survival and should be removed. Siruguppa area was earmarked for GIB protection after the GIB pioneer group alerted the forest department, which in turn managed to acquire land for the birds. As part of compensatory afforestation, the Jindal Group purchased 250 acres of agricultural land and handed it over to the state forest department a few years ago.