The survey was conducted by the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation and the Forests and Environment Department, Government of Gujarat. Wildlife activists were also a part of the survey.

A source, who was part of the survey team, said, “Forty-eight is a grossly inflated figure. The actual number of birds is half of that. During the survey a lot of enumerators increased the number of birds sighted. The forest officials knew this, but they let it pass.”

The total number of sightings reported in the survey was 59 and the figure of 48 was arrived at by eliminating 11 possible multiple counting.

A source said, “Birds that did not exist were counted. This took the tally to 59. However, this was too dramatic a figure to go unnoticed. So it was brought down to 48, which is also far from the truth.”

The GIB is a highly endangered bird and is at present found only in some pockets of Rajasthan and Madhya Pardesh, apart from Kutch in Gujarat. The bird is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 in India and international trade is prohibited by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

So far no incident of poaching of the bird has come to light in Gujarat. GIB lives in the grasslands of Kutch and habitat loss poses a major threat to them.

A habitat survey of the GIB conducted over a smaller area had put their count at 35. Sources said even that figure was puffed up in the same manner and the officials were in the know of it. “This survey was no different from the last one. New areas like Mandavi and Dayapar were added so that the count could be increased by reporting sightings there. The fact is that bustards don’t live in those areas. Being flying birds they may be occasionally sighted there but majority are concentrated in the area around the sanctuary in Naliya.”

Pradip Khanna, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, who was present during the survey, denies all this.