Explanation:

Recently, ecological concerns have been raised over the planned 4,000MW ultra mega solar plant in Rajasthan.

Whereas on the one hand, the state forest department is at an advanced stage of creating a development agency to protect and conserve the natural ecosystem of Sambhar lake which is a wetland of international importance, there are plans afoot to set up a 4,000MW ultra mega solar plant at the Ramsar site.

Sambhar Salt Ltd has recently invited expression of interest (EoI) from companies to set up the solar project.

Out of the 58,000 acres the company has, it currently uses only a fraction of 2,500 acres for salt production.

Thereby, a large area can be utilised for solar power generation.

As per industry estimates, over 16,000 acres would be required to set up the 4,000MW plant. This would mean setting up solar panels in large swathes of land.

It is feared that such a large-scale project on the wetland could wipe out the eco-system with all its genetic diversity.