Claiming that windmills being set up by a private company near the Gir sanctuary will be detrimental for the lions, a public interest litigation was filed in the high court. After primary hearing on Friday, a bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi issued notices to the State government, principal chief conservator of forest and the company that is planning to set up the project."We have filed petition challenging construction of large sized wind mills in the crucial lion habitat near reserve forest in Talaja Range. The com-pany has planned to construct 27 windmills in this area which would be detrimental to the existence of lions and other wildlife in the corridors of the last surviving Asiatic Lions in the world," said Anand Yagnik, counsel for the petitioner, Lion Nature Youth Foundation . The plea stated that construction of the wind farm and movement of heavy vehicles would cause irreparable damage to the wild population of Asiatic Lions and other scheduled species of birds and animals."The land given to the company is a government wasteland and is surrounded by gauchar land in some areas," it said. Petitioner submitted that 25 Asiatic Lions on an average and 121 leopards died due to unnatural causes, in which electrocution played a major part. "Transformers being set up in the area are an impending danger," the plea claimed.

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