By IANS
Imphal/New Delhi : Authorities in Manipur culled tens of thousands of poultry after the outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in the northeastern state bordering Myanmar. Two other states – Orissa and Rajasthan – also sounded alerts Friday as a precautionary measure.
The outbreak of the virulent form of the avian influenza, H5N1, in the chicken of a firm in Imphal was confirmed by two government laboratories but Indian authorities said that the disease was localised and had been contained.
Authorities in Manipur have culled at least 30,000 poultry but heavy rain hampered efforts to achieve the target of culling 160,000 chicken and ducks.
"We began the operations Thursday but heavy rain has come in the way of speeding up our work. We are trying our best to finish the task as soon as possible," K. Gopal, nodal officer of the Animal Disease Control Programme in Manipur, told IANS.
The culling was being carried out in an area of five km radius around the farm at Chenngmeirong near Imphal where the deaths were reported July 11.
Health ministry officials in New Delhi said there were no immediate reports of humans contracting the virus although they have put on medication about a dozen workers of the poultry farm where the deaths were reported.
"We have send two ventilators and given due instructions to the state government on how to cull poultry," said a health ministry official.
Authorities in the department of animal husbandry, ministry of agriculture, said that as against 20 Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) Thursday, 32 RRTs have now been deployed. Twenty-two areas have been identified for culling and proper sanitization works in the culling zone.
The state government Wednesday sounded a general alert across Manipur and banned the sale and purchase of poultry after the Indian health and animal husbandry departments confirmed that tests carried out on chicken that died at the Chenngmeirong farm had tested positive for bird flu.
"There are no fresh reports of any unnatural deaths of poultry from across the state. We are maintaining strict surveillance on other farms with veterinarians carrying out checkups of all poultry," Gopal said.
Meanwhile, Orissa and Rajasthan sounded bird flu alerts as a preventive measure.
"We have sounded an alert and have asked the animal husbandry department officials to remain vigilant," Prabhulal Saini, Rajasthan's Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister told IANS.
Saini said that surveillance teams comprising of veterinary doctors and assistants have been constituted and they have been asked to visit poultry farms and places where migratory birds come. The teams will submit their reports to the animal husbandry department on a regular basis.
The state has a big poultry industry with over 6.3 million birds. Officials of the animal husbandry department said that to save these birds from the disease, the department has decided to inspect all the poultry farms in the state.
All the farm owners have been informed about the precautions and symptoms of the disease. There are 1,500 veterinary doctors in the state of which 900 have been trained to combat the disease.
Orissa Friday also alerted forest and wildlife officials of a prominent wildlife sanctuary in Kendrapada district. The Bhitarkanika sanctuary, about 170 km from the state capital, is famous for a large number of migratory birds.
"We have been asked by the government to remain alert in view of the confirmed bird flu cases in Manipur," A.K. Mishra, senior forest officer of the park, said.
"We are monitoring migratory birds particularly bar-headed geese, Brahminy Duck, great black-headed gull, shovellers, who experts say carry the deadly H5N1 strain," Mishra said.
There are an estimated 60,000 people residing in an around the five km radius from the farm from where the virus was reported in Manipur.
There has been no reported case of bird flu in other northeastern states, but the spread of the virus in Manipur has led to panic in the region with authorities in the adjoining states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram sounding a general alert and banning import of poultry from Manipur.
In the wake of the bird flu, Manipur poultry farmers have been affected in a major way.
"We are almost doomed as this was our only source of livelihood. We don't know how we are going to survive now…it is a massive blow to all of us," said Ibemcha Singh, a poultry farm owner.
Singh and his wife were distraught after authorities culled 1,500 of their chicken as part of the massive culling drive.
Some poultry farmers clandestinely shifting birds from their sheds to distant places to evade culling thus creating a difficult situation for the government.
"We have come across many reports of people loading their poultry into vans and other modes of transport and shifting them to other places to escape culling," Gopal said.
Police have been alerted to check such illegal transportation of chicken to other places. At least six people were detained by the police while trying to smuggle out the poultry from near Chenngmeirong to distance places since Thursday.
The farm owners were being paid Rs.30 for a chicken culled and Rs.10 for a chick as compensation.