By IANS
Lucknow : The outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal has hit poultry sales in Uttar Pradesh by as much as 20 percent.
The Uttar Pradesh Poultry Association said there has been a 20 percent fall in the sale of poultry across the state, which is among the biggest consumers of chicken and other poultry products.
While top officials were confident that the deadly virus had not invaded the state, an alert has been sounded to all district officials to keep a close vigil on the situation.
“We have directed all district magistrates to keep a watch and to ensure immediate preventive steps to control the disease in case of an outbreak”, Prashant Kumar Misra, state chief secretary, told IANS Thursday.
“In case any unnatural death of a bird is reported, necessary samples would instantly be sent to the laboratory in Bhopal for confirmation of avian flu virus,” Misra said.
Bird sanctuaries that attract migratory birds during winter have been put on watch, he said.
“We have directed concerned officials of all the 13 bird sanctuaries in the state to ensure regular monitoring of unnatural bird deaths,” Eva Sharma, forest conservator, told IANS.
“Often the flu is passed on by migratory birds, so we need to be careful,” she added.
Usually, about 300,000 chicken and nearly 15 million eggs are consumed every day in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India.