Govt plans to contest Supreme Court order on great Indian bustard

Solar power not cause of increased bird deaths, will be basis of state's argument

The great Indian bustard is at the centre of another impending legal tussle.

The government is planning to move the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order that asked Gujarat and Rajasthan to lay transmission lines linked to solar power units underground so as to not pose any threat to the endangered bird.

The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has sought a view from the law ministry and will move the court basing its arguments on estimates showing that the bird’s population was declining even be­fore solar power plants came to the region, said a senior government