By IANS
Guwahati : Authorities in Assam have culled some 10,000 poultry of an estimated 85,000 ordered to be killed as a precautionary step after the deadly bird flu virus hit adjoining West Bengal, officials said Monday.
“Culling operations are on in the two districts of Dhubri and Kokrajhar since the weekend and so far about 10,000 chickens and ducks have been killed,” a veterinary official said.
The culling is being carried out in about 40 villages within a five km radius of Assam’s border with West Bengal since Saturday.
“Some 50 rapid response teams comprising about four personnel, including a veterinarian, are engaged with the operation that is expected to continue for about a week until the entire area is depopulated of the estimated 85,000 poultry,” the official said.
Locals in the area, however, protested the culling drive saying authorities were acting in haste.
“We are doomed as our main source of livelihood was through poultry farming,” said a sobbing Manasi Sil, a middle-aged woman in Dhubri’s Ramraikutty area.
Like Sil, there were hundreds of people who echoed similar feelings.
“There are no reports of bird flu in our area and yet the authorities are forcibly culling our chickens. We were promised to be compensated Rs.40 per chicken killed, but the amount is measly compared to the loss we have suffered,” said Haridhan Das, another poultry farmer in the area.
Health authorities have taken precautionary measures for the personnel involved in the culling process. “All the veterinary personnel involved in the culling process are being administered the antiviral drug Tamiflu as a precautionary measure,” Parthajyoti Gogoi, regional director (northeast) of the central health ministry based in Guwahati, told IANS.
Bird flu has spread to 13 of West Bengal’s 19 districts since the outbreak was announced Jan 15. Laboratory results have confirmed that the deadly H5N1 strain is responsible for the outbreak.
The World Health Organisation fears that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans and spark a deadly pandemic. Last year, an outbreak of avian influenza in the northeastern state of Manipur led to the culling of some 200,000 birds.
Poultry business has already been hit in Assam since the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal. Assam and other northeastern states have already banned the import of poultry from West Bengal.