Kota to have a Conservation & Breeding Centre for Great Indian Bustard soon

Team L&M

A Conservation & Breeding Centre for the Great Indian Bustard will soon be set up at Kota, Rajasthan. A site for this has already been identified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) in consultation with State Forest Departments of Rajasthan and Gujarat, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and international experts.

A satellite conservation breeding facility with incubator, hatcher, chick rearing and housing for captive birds is presently functioning at Sam in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). This site is managed by WII Scientists, Rajasthan Forest Department with the technical assistance of the International Fund for Houbara Conservation and Reneco, Abu Dhabi. Sixteen chicks – artificially hatched from eggs collected from wild – are being reared here.

The Great Indian Bustard is listed in Schedule-I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby, according it highest degree of legal protection from hunting.

With an objective to build up captive population of Great Indian Bustard and to release the chicks in the wild for increasing the population and also to promote in-situ conservation of the species, the MoEFCC with financial support from National Authority for Compensatory Afforestation Funds has sanctioned an outlay of Rs 33.85 crore for the duration of five years for the programme titled Habitat Improvement and Conservation Breeding of Great Indian Bustard-an integrated approach.

“We have has also constituted a Task Force for suggesting Eco- friendly measures to mitigate impact of power transmission lines and other power transmission infrastructures on wildlife including the Great Indian Bustard,” says Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State. MoEFCC.

“As per WII studies, there are around 150 Great Indian Bustards left across the country which includes about 128 birds in Rajasthan and less than 10 birds each in the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,” he adds.