State govt mulls measures to save flamingos in Kutch

After news reports that some 129 flamingos were killed in Khadir area of Rapar taluka of Kutch district after coming in contact with 66 KW high tension cables passing through a wetland, the Gujarat Government took stock of the situation with a meeting.

Reacting to the situation, principal secretary to Forest and Environment department S K Nanda said the state government has taken the recent incident of the death of flamingos in Kutch with seriousness and has planned quick measures to stop such incidents in future.

Nanda also added that a meeting of high officials of forest department was held soon after the incident took place. The principal chief conservator of forest S K Goyal also held meeting with the officials of Gujarat Electricity Transmission Company (GETCO) to discuss quick measures.

Post the meeting the officials have decided to check the technical feasibility of using insulated wires and to put reflectors so that the birds can easily see the transmission lines and also to install underground cables. The meet decided to immediately put reflectors in high-probability zones on primary bases which will be done by GETCO.

Apart from this, forest department has prepared a special team to monitor this area on continual basis.

A good numbers of flamingo are being seen in the wetlands of this area because of the availability of water and according to statistics around one and half lakh to four lakh birds are estimated to be dwelling in this area.