Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today lauded the vulture breeding and conservation programme of the Haryana government.
"With the success of the programme, I believe, we would again touch the number of four crore vultures in the country in the next 10 years," the minister said after launching Asia's first Gyps vulture reintroduction programme, along with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, at Pinjore.
Javadekar and Khattar also released two Himalayan Griffon vultures from Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore into the wild. The birds were released in the pre-release aviaries close to the breeding centre.
The Union Minister named one of the captive vultures 'Jodh Singh' before its release.
He added that the Centre has fixed a target of increasing the existing forest cover of 20 per cent in the country to 33 per cent.
Khattar described breeding and conservation of vultures as a "significant step" towards saving the species from extinction.
"It is a matter of concern that vultures have become endangered. Almost 95 per cent of them have disappeared and the reason is Diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle," he said.
When vultures feed on carcasses of animals which had been given Diclofenac, they also die, he said, adding that the drug has now been banned by the government.
As vultures play a vital role in keeping the environment clean, efforts should be undertaken to increase their numbers and the state government is constantly working towards achieving the goal, Khattar said.
Besides various schemes in the Shivalik hills, a 500-metre area around Mangar Bani has been declared 'no construction zone', the Chief Minister said, adding that his government is also formulating a scheme to develop a herbal park on a 500-acre land in Morni.
Javadekar later handed over 10 vultures, bred at the centre and which have siblings, to Field Director, Van Vihar National Park, Madhya Pradesh AK Srivastava, as part of genetic management of the captive vulture population.
The Himalayan Griffon is closely related to the critically endangered resident Gyps vultures but has not been declared an endangered species.
