Centre rationalizes GIB sanctuary area in Maharashtra

In a relief to farmers in Maharashtra, the government has decided to "rationalise the boundaries" of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) sanctuary to 400 sq km between Solapur and Ahmednagar districts.
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest, said the government is taking steps to revive the near-extinct population of the bird by undertaking a breeding programme.
The Centre has also announced funds for conservation of the birds under which Rs 81 lakh has been approved for Rajasthan, Rs 1.38 crore for Maharashtra and Rs 1.11 crore for Gujarat. Apart from Maharashtra, these two states also have GIB population.

"We realised that instead of helping in conservation of the birds, people were agitated as no development was taking place in the sanctuary area which is very large. So, we have decided to rationalise the boundaries to 400 sq kms," Javadekar said.
He said that preliminary notification for the sanctuary covered 7817 sq km of areas, which was revised to 8496.44 sq kms. Subsequently, an area of 1,229.24 sq km was notified in 2012, based on the report of V B Sawarkar and an order of the Supreme Court to rationalise the boundaries.
Acting on the fresh recommendations of a committee, it has been decided to further rationalise the boundaries and notify 400 sq kms of area.

"When the areas were notified, the population of the Great Indian Bustard birds was 400, but despite this it has dwindled to 4. In the process, farmers, whose farms came within the sanctuary, were facing difficulty in getting loans, do any kind of development and had restriction on taking specific crops," Javadekar said.

He said the restricted zone will now have 50 acres of grasslands, which will be restricted as the birds dwell in that habitat.
"Accordingly, such 50 acres patches will be made at the interval of 10 to 12 kms. We will also acquire private land land if it comes in way of having these 50 acres grassland," he said.

Elaborating on the breeding programme, Javadekar said the ministry is taking steps to ensure that not a single egg of Great Indian Bustard goes wasted. "Rajasthan has a fair number of Great Indian Bustard. After the success of the programme, we will release these birds in Maharashtra and other states, where population has dwindled significantly.