By NNN-PTI
Kolkata : The dreaded birdflu among chickens Thursday spread to new areas of Birbhum and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal even as culling of the birds in places affected by the disease continued at a slow pace.
Animal Resources Development minister Anisur Rahaman told reporters that the bird flu had spread to Kirnahar in Birbhum district and Barwan in Murshidabad district in the last 24 hours.
He said there were also reports of poultry deaths in neighbouring Burdwan, South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts but bird flu symptoms had not been not found.
Though West Bengal government maintained that 26,000 birds have been culled in birdflu-hit districts of Birbhum and Dakshin Dinajpur, figures available indicate only over 4,500 have been slaughtered.
Dakhshin Dinajpur District Magistrate Swapan Chattopadhay said 3059 birds had been culled in his district Wednesday. Of this, 2,000 were culled at the government-run poultry farm.
He was unable to give the figure for Thursday but said 26 teams were on the job and the target was 26,000 birds.
In Birbhum, chairman of the worst-hit Rampurhat-II panchayet Samiti chairman Zakir Hussain said 1600 birds had been culled Wednesday.
He said people were reluctant to give their birds for culling and were demanding cash instead of the official receipts being given to them for compensation.