Great Indian Bustard Conservation: Why Supreme Court Ordered Safeguards Against Power Lines

Great Indian Bustard Latest News

• Recently, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment to strengthen conservation of the Great Indian Bustard, focusing on preventing bird deaths caused by collisions with overhead power lines linked to renewable energy projects.

• Acting on recommendations from an expert committee, the Court demarcated priority conservation areas for the critically endangered species and laid down a mechanism to reroute or manage overhead power lines in these zones.

Background: What the Supreme Court Was Examining

• A retired bureaucrat and environmentalist approached the Supreme Court of India seeking urgent protection for the Great Indian Bustard (GIB).
• The petition flagged rising fatal collisions with renewable energy transmission lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• Poor frontal vision and heavy body make GIBs highly vulnerable to overhead wires.

Key Supreme Court Directions (2021–2024)

• 2021 order – Ban on new overhead power lines across ~99,000 sq km of GIB habitat; Assessment of undergrounding high-voltage lines; Mandatory bird diverters
• March 2024 modification – Withdrawal of blanket ban on overhead lines; Following concerns raised by the Ministry of Power, MNRE, and MoEFCC over feasibility and sector-wide impact.

Balancing Conservation and Clean Energy

• Court acknowledged the need to balance:
  • Climate commitments and renewable energy expansion, and
  • Protection of a critically endangered species
  • Held that undergrounding alone is insufficient for conservation.
• It constituted an expert committee of wildlife and power-sector specialists.

Basis of the Final Judgment

• Expert committee recommendations guided the Court’s latest ruling.
• The judgment introduced targeted safeguards for the GIB while accommodating India’s renewable energy goals.

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Measures Ordered by the Supreme Court

• Acting on recommendations from an expert committee, the Supreme Court of India approved a package of measures across three pillars:
  • redrawing conservation zones;
  • voltage-based mitigation for power lines (rerouting or undergrounding); 
  • creation of dedicated powerline corridors to reduce collision risk.

Revised Priority Conservation Areas

• Rajasthan: Priority areas expanded from 13,163 sq km to 14,013 sq km.
• Gujarat: Priority areas increased from 500 sq km to 740 sq km.
• These zones represent core habitats and breeding areas identified by the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
• Contestation: Petitioners opposed the exclusion of 657 sq km (eastern Rasla–Degray Oran), arguing it is a vital wintering and stopover corridor between Pokhran and Desert National Park.
• Critical sites prioritised include: Desert National Park; Salkha–Kuchri; Sanu–Mokla–Parewar; Pokhran Field Firing Range (PFFR) and its buffer/eastern periphery; Dholiya; Khetolai; and Chacha.

Dedicated Powerline Corridors

• Rajasthan: New powerline corridors up to 5 km wide, placed ≥5 km south of Desert National Park, to carry rerouted overhead lines.
• Gujarat: Dedicated corridors of 1–2 km width to evacuate power from wind/solar projects in coastal Kutch.
• Route optimisation mandate: Where multiple green-energy pooling stations terminate at a common grid station, authorities must converge routes into a common stretch wherever feasible.

Project Restrictions in Priority Areas

• No new overhead power lines within revised priority areas except via designated corridors (lines ≤11 kV exempt).
• No new wind turbines in priority areas.
• No new solar parks/plants >2 MW, and no expansion of existing solar parks, within priority areas.

Voltage-Based Mitigation (Undergrounding & Timelines)

• Rajasthan:
  • Immediate undergrounding of 80 km of 33 kV lines (of 104 km identified earlier).
  • All burying/rerouting to start immediately and finish before 2028.
• Gujarat:
  • Immediate undergrounding of 79.2 km of 33 kV lines in priority areas.
  • 64.9 km of 66 kV lines earmarked for immediate undergrounding.
  • WII-identified 250 km of critical lines to be buried within 2 years.

Bird Flight Diverters: Evidence-Based Pause

• The Court did not issue blanket directions on installing bird flight diverters.
• Instead, it directed the committee to assess their effectiveness in reducing collision mortality and submit findings to the Centre.

Conservation Measures Directed by the Supreme Court

• The apex court endorsed a mix of general and State-specific measures to strengthen conservation of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), alongside the ongoing Project GIB. 

Measures for Rajasthan

• Grassland Restoration and Consolidation – Priority on restoration, conservation, and consolidation of grassland ecosystems, the GIB’s primary habitat.
• In-situ Habitat Management
  • To support survival in the wild, the Court directed:
  • Enclosure improvements to secure breeding and foraging areas
  • Predator management, including control of free-ranging dogs and reptiles that prey on eggs
  • Food and water management to stabilise resources
  • Community engagement to reduce human-wildlife conflict and support local stewardship

Measures for Gujarat

• ‘Jump-Start’ Breeding in the Wild
  • Adoption of a ‘jump-start’ method: transferring fertile eggs from Rajasthan to Gujarat.
  • Technique involves swapping an infertile egg with a fertile one, enabling the female to incubate and raise the chick in natural conditions.
• Technology-Enabled Monitoring
  • GPS tagging of birds to track movements and support the jump-start breeding process and post-release monitoring.

Source: IE