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West Bengal steps up culling of birds
| Doctors may be brought in from outside the State |
CHICKEN ON THE MENU: Health officials wearing masks engaged in culling chicken at Tarapith, 300 km north of Kolkata, over the weekend.
Kolkata: With the avian flu continuing to spread to new districts in West Bengal, the State government has stepped up its bird culling and awareness-building drive.
State Animal Resources Minister Anisur Rahman who toured Birbhum on Saturday, the worst affected district , said that four lakh birds would be killed by next Saturday in Birbhum.
He said that there was a need to increase awareness so that people did not dump dead birds in ponds or wells, which act as the source of water for villages. Areas in the Nadia and Burdwan districts too came under the scourge on Saturday and the bird culling target may be revised upwards district authorities said.
Mr. Rehman said that panchayats were being asked to advise people in the affected areas not to either consume chicken or trade it.
If necessary they were asked to take police help to stop trading in birds in the affected areas. He said that a team of 300 people will be pressed for the task and doctors may be brought from outside the State.
Central Livestock Commissioner S.K. Badyopadhyay said that the rate of culling had improved over the last two days. He said that the virus was spreading fast in West Bengal mainly due to the density of poultry farms in this part of the country. “This is the reason why it is spreading so fast as compared to States like Maharashtra. The sooner the birds are culled and sealed, the more effective will be the control of the H5N1 virus,” he said.
Border Security Force jawans have been asked to create awareness about the disease in the border district of south Dinajpur.
Door-to-door mopping operations will be carried out in this district, in which case no compensation will be paid, district officials said.
Union Minister of State for Health P. Lakhsmi, who was here for another programme, stressed on the need to step up measures to control the avian flu. She said that the Centre had already sent masks and ventilators for combating the menace and was ready to extend any other help necessary. The Minister will review the situation with her counterpart in West Bengal on Monday.
Since its outbreak on Tuesday from Birbhum, the avian flu has fanned out to many western and northern areas of the State with reports of the virus in south Dinajpur and Murshidabad and new areas of Birbhum and now Nadia and Burdwan.
Amid panic reactions about the death of any bird — fowl, crow or owl — reports of bird flu in Kolkata were ruled out.
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