Windmills posing threat to Bustards in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer: Unregulated windmills coming up in the Desert National Park (DNP) at Jaisalmer are posing a serious threat to the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) which has been categorised as "critically endangered". The state government has called a meeting on Wednesday over the issue.
The meeting will be chaired by electricity department principal secretary in which district collector Vishwamohan Sharma, CCF Govind Sagar Bharadwaj, DFO Anup K R and other officers will participate.
The recently concluded wildlife census revealed that GIBs are migrating from Jaisalmer.
As per information, it was found that due to excessive number of windmills as well as erection of allied electric wire networks, godawans are scared of getting hit while flying. So, they are migrating to other places.
Last year, around 20 GIBs were spotted in the Salkha area of the district, but not a single GIB was recorded in this year's census. The DNP has also written to the state government requesting not to set up windmills in the habitat area of godawans.
CCF Bharadwaj said that GIBs are migrating from this area due to windmill units or dying after getting caught in the wires of windmills.
Taking serious note of the fact, the government has called a meeting on May 25 in which the issue will be raised on priority-basis.
Besides, power line of windmills set up in core area of godawan habitat will be immediately removed or danger light or flight diverter light will be installed. Apart from this, most danger sector lines or black spots will be identified. Moreover, in future, no electric wires of windmills will be installed in the core area.
He said that last year 20 godawans were seen in Salkha area, but this time none was seen, which is really worrisome.