By IANS
Kolkata : The West Bengal government Tuesday lifted the ban on poultry products sales as no cases of bird flu infections have been reported in the state since Feb 2 and the situation was “totally under control”.
“We have withdrawn the ban on consumption, transportation and sale of poultry products from Wednesday. The situation is totally under control but we are still keeping a close watch on the overall situation,” said West Bengal Animal Resources Development (ARD) Minister Anisur Rahman after a meeting with state Health Minister Suryakanta Mishra, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta and central government officials.
However, Rahman said that keeping in mind the magnitude of the bird flu situation in Birbhum and Murshidabad, certain restrictions remained imposed in these two worst hit districts.
“The business of selling poultry products has been barred in 11 blocks and one municipality in Birbhum and in 11 blocks of Murshidabad,” Rahman said.
The West Bengal government had imposed the total ban on the sale and purchase of chickens and eggs on Feb 5 all over the state.
West Bengal has culled 3.8 million poultry birds to combat the deadly H5N1 virus, which has hit parts of 13 of the 19 districts in West Bengal. About 1.8 million people stay in the affected areas.
The affected districts are South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Burdwan, Bankura, Malda, Cooch Behar, Purulia and West Midnapore.
No human infection was confirmed in the state.
Neighbouring Bangladesh announced an outbreak Jan 3 and the virus has affected 29 of its 64 districts.