Source: Pakistan Daily Times
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C01%5Cstory_1-12-2007_pg7_9
India’s official National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has come to the rescue of the tiny Parsi community, which is worried over the disposal of their dead because of the dwindling population of vultures.
It has decided to set up a nursery for breeding vultures around Mumbai, where most Parsis reside. Dr Mehroo Dhunjisha Bengalee, a Parsi member of the NCM hailing from Mumbai, has been given the responsibility to coordinate with experts to set up the nursery.
The Parsis have always had a representative in the NCM, but it is perhaps for the first time that the representative is doing something that benefits them, thanks to the issue pursued vigorously by Ms Bengalee.
“The Parsi community strongly raised the issue of vultures disappearing from Mumbai. We do share their concern, and hence wish to contribute as much as possible to address their problem,” said Commission Chairman Muhammad Shafi Qureshi.
He said, “There was a time when hundreds of vultures used to hover above the city’s sole functional Tower of Silence, or dakhma, at Kemp’s Corner to feed on the remains of Zoroastrian Parsis, a ritual that the community has been practicing since long.”