By NNN-PTI
Kolkata : More areas in West Bengal reported death of birds Friday as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee described the bird flu outbreak in the state as “very serious”.
The fresh bird deaths were reported from Burdwan and Bankura districts.
The Chief Minister said the death of crows and owls in Kolkata’s southern and eastern parts Friday was normal and that there was no cause for panic.
“We will have to kill four lakh (400,000) birds in the affected districts, Bhattacharjee said, adding the situation was “very serious”.
The poultry in 5-10 km radius of the affected areas would have to be culled and the process would be completed within seven days, he said.
In Murshidabad, 10,000 chickens have died since Tuesday, in Burdwan 2,000 in the past seven days and in Bankura 400 sick birds were culled Thursday though bird flu was not confirmed there, reports from the districts said.
In Dakshin Dinajpur district, declared bird flu affected, 6000 chicken have been culled with 19 teams at work at the district headquarters town of Balurghat and villages that fell within a 5-km radius of a government poultry farm.
In Birbhum, another bird flu-hit district, people were resisting the culling operations. The Rampurhat subdivsion was the worst affected, government sources said.