Culling progress slow in Bengal
Amidst a target of 21 lakh, culling in six of the nine bird flu affected districts of West Bengal on Thursday was making unsteady progress, with destruction of poultry in one district over and nearly so in two others.
By PTI |
KOLKATA : Amidst a target of 21 lakh, culling in six of the nine bird flu affected districts of West Bengal on Thursday was making unsteady progress, with destruction of poultry in one district over and nearly so in two others.
Culling was over in Dakshin Dinajpur district and nearly complete in Burdwan and Bankura, reports from the districts said, which were confirmed here by animal resources development (ARD) minister Anisur Rahaman.
Mr Rahaman said the Centre had agreed to the demands for compensation to poultry farmers besides grants after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee drew the attention of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.
Mr Pawar has asked Mr Bhattacharjee to place a concrete rehabilitation package to the Centre for affected poultry farmers, he said. He said the chief minister suggested that the Centre provide free chicks for distribution and establish new poultry infrastructure.
According to the minister 2.51 lakh birds of the seven lakh had been destroyed with the number of culling teams increased to 938 from 600 on Wednesday. Culling would be over in the next two to three days, Mr Rahaman said.
Culling was, however, yet to begin in Malda district, which was declared bird flu affected on January 21 while it began during the day in Hooghly district.
In Bankura district, a senior ARD official said 75% of the work was over in the affected areas of Mejhia and Saltora.
In worst-affected Birbhum, where the target of culling was seven lakh, 3.5 lakh birds have been killed so far.
The ARD minister had said last Saturday the culling would be over in seven days with four lakh birds to be destroyed, but the target since then has risen to seven lakh. A spokesman of the bird flu cell opened by the district administration said till Wednesday 162 teams were working against the required 300.
In Nadia, of two lakh birds, culling of one lakh was complete while in Burdwan it was 68,000 of 1.3 lakh, district reports said.
Meanwhile, resistance to the culling was on Thursday reported from a village at Bolpur-Sriniketan in Birbhum district where residents declared there was no reason for killing perfectly healthy birds. The culling team sent to the village had to return without killing birds, a spokesperson of the bird flu cell in the district said.
Culling was over in Dakshin Dinajpur district and nearly complete in Burdwan and Bankura, reports from the districts said, which were confirmed here by animal resources development (ARD) minister Anisur Rahaman.
Mr Rahaman said the Centre had agreed to the demands for compensation to poultry farmers besides grants after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee drew the attention of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.
Mr Pawar has asked Mr Bhattacharjee to place a concrete rehabilitation package to the Centre for affected poultry farmers, he said. He said the chief minister suggested that the Centre provide free chicks for distribution and establish new poultry infrastructure.
According to the minister 2.51 lakh birds of the seven lakh had been destroyed with the number of culling teams increased to 938 from 600 on Wednesday. Culling would be over in the next two to three days, Mr Rahaman said.
Culling was, however, yet to begin in Malda district, which was declared bird flu affected on January 21 while it began during the day in Hooghly district.
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In Bankura district, a senior ARD official said 75% of the work was over in the affected areas of Mejhia and Saltora.
In worst-affected Birbhum, where the target of culling was seven lakh, 3.5 lakh birds have been killed so far.
The ARD minister had said last Saturday the culling would be over in seven days with four lakh birds to be destroyed, but the target since then has risen to seven lakh. A spokesman of the bird flu cell opened by the district administration said till Wednesday 162 teams were working against the required 300.
In Nadia, of two lakh birds, culling of one lakh was complete while in Burdwan it was 68,000 of 1.3 lakh, district reports said.
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In Murshidabad, against a target of eight lakh, 70,000 birds were culled till Wednesday, district magistrate Subir Bhadra said, adding that manpower constraints existed. Meanwhile, resistance to the culling was on Thursday reported from a village at Bolpur-Sriniketan in Birbhum district where residents declared there was no reason for killing perfectly healthy birds. The culling team sent to the village had to return without killing birds, a spokesperson of the bird flu cell in the district said.
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