The population fell from 2,647 in 2005 to 1,431 in 2007, said Minister of State for Environment and Forest

Kiritsinh Rana.

In reply to a question by Liladhar Vaghela during Question Hour in the House on Friday, Rana said vulture population was being taken care of at the Sakkarbagh zoo in Junagadh. The zoo has been designated as the western regional centre for preservation and treatment of vultures.

Since vultures fall to carcasses containing diclofenac sodium, Vaghela sought to know if the government wanted to ban use of the drug. Responding to this, the minister said the government had already banned use of diclofenac, a veterinary drug. Whereas in humans, the government did not consider banning it as a painkiller drug. The minister replied in the negative when asked if there was any plan to ban the drug for humans.

He said that out of the 1,431 vultures counted during April-May 2007, there were 1,145 white vultures, 217 were Girnari vultures and 67 belonged to other species.