KARACHI - Provincial Wildlife Minister Dr Daya Ram Essarani reiterated Saturday that Sindh Govt has declared 2009 as Year of the Environment. He said environment and wildlife would be included in the curriculum of Sindh's educational institutions. He was addressing the Conservation Awards Ceremony on Saturday, held in the honour of the remarkable services of Game officers, Game inspectors and Game watchers of Sindh Wildlife Department. He told the media persons that the department had successfully recovered 49 Falcons and 21 Hubara Bustards from various parts of the City. It is pertinent to mention here that a Falcon's price in the international market is Rs 2 million and price of 49 Falcons is stated to be around Rs 80 million. He said that nature has gifted the Sindh province with natural surroundings such as Thar desert area, Kerthar mountainous area, Indus delta, Ramsar sites and various jungle mushrooms around Sindh. He added that Sindh holds the credit to keep various species that are rarely found all over the world such as Indus Sindh Blind Dolphin, Sindh Ibex, Green Turtles, Urial, Hog Deer, Gray and Black Partridges and Hyenas. Whereas, during winter the season Falcons, Hubara Bustard accompanied with a large number of other migratory birds from Central Asia come to reside in the deserts of Sindh. Provincial minister applauded the performance of the organisations which are working for the safety of these rare species. "The pressure was mounting on the ministry when the department recovered falcons and hubara bustards due to their worth in millions. But we did not came under any pressure and released the birds in various parts of Sindh considering preference to the safety of the birds in their natural habitats", he said. Brigadier Mukhtar Ahmed, the president of Falcon and Hubara Bustard Foundation International Pakistan painted a gloomy picture over the mass ignorance about the conservation of environment in general and animals in particular. He said that the game inspectors, game watchers and staffers of wild life department as well as police did a wonderful job in recovering the rare birds. Secretary wildlife Shams Memon also addressed on that occasion. Conservator of wildlife department Sindh, Hussain Bux Bhaagat, assistant conservator Fayaz Ahmed and other were also present at the ceremony. Later Dr Daya Ram distributed the certificates among the game officers, game inspectors, game watchers and police cops who took part in this assignment. Those who were given away certificates included Rasheed Ahmed, Nazar Hasan, Mumtaz Ali Sommro, Qamar-ul-Islam, Babu Khan Palari, Akhtar Ali, M.Mumtaz, Arz Mhummad, Mashooq Ali, Musharraf Ali, Ashiq, Deedar, Bashire Ahmed, Abbas Ali Ghulam Ali, M Ilyas, Misri Khan and a few cops.