By IANS
New Delhi : The bird flu spread will be contained within a few days, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Thursday and praised the West Bengal government for its efforts in curbing it, though culling operations were slowed down by a shutdown in the state.
“Bird flu is under control and there are few deaths of poultry birds. It will be contained within a few days,” Ramadoss said on the sidelines of an event in the capital.
“The West Bengal government has done a good job. The adjoining states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Assam have started culling of birds as well,” he said.
The minister asserted that the poultry-free zone in the area of five-km radius from the border of West Bengal would help curb the spread of avian influenza.
However, contrary to the health minister’s claim, animal husbandry department officials said Jharkhand and Orissa were yet to begin culling.
On Jan 15, India declared an outbreak of bird flu in two districts of West Bengal – Birbhum and South Dinajpur. So far, 13 of the 19 districts of the state have been affected.
Meanwhile, fresh poultry bird samples from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have been found negative for bird flu.
The animal husbandry department said that culling operations in West Bengal was affected due to a 24-hour shutdown Wednesday called by the Forward Bloc to protest the death of six activists in police firing the day before.
The animal husbandry department said there was “slower progress as compared to the earlier days on account of disruption in control and containment activities due to bandh observed in the state”.
As compared to Tuesday when an estimated 63,710 birds were culled, only 11,820 were slaughtered Wednesday, authorities said.
So far a total of 3.59 million birds have been culled.
Officials said that 79 birds were found dead due to the virus in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad districts if West Bengal Wednesday. This takes the total mortality of birds to 132,990 in the country.
The officials said no new cases of avian influenza have been reported from the country.
Assam and Bihar have already started culling on a central government directive to slaughter birds in a five-kilometre belt along the border with West Bengal as a preventive measure.
A total of 34,423 birds have already been culled in Assam against a targeted 89,254 birds, the officials said.
But Jharkhand and Orissa, which also share with West Bengal, were yet to begin culling.
Jharkhand first wants to identify areas that are more vulnerable before starting culling and Orissa’s plan of action was still awaited, the officials said.
Orissa’s move to cull birds ran into trouble with poultry farmers and government officials openly opposing it. An association of state poultry farmers has filed a writ petition in the Orissa High Court challenging the government’s decision.
The state government had announced Tuesday that it would cull nearly a million poultry birds up to five km from its border with West Bengal. However, the state Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Department, which has been opposing the move, was reluctant to carry out the order.