Bengal sounds bird flu alert

Kolkata-New Delhi (PTI): A general alert was on Wednesday sounded across West Bengal following an outbreak of bird flu in Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts as culling of operations began in the two affected areas. Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman told PTI that culling operations had been taken up in the two districts.

He said that 3.50 lakh birds in Birbhum and 26,000 in South Dinajpur would be culled. As a precautionary measure, the state government has decided to ban sale of birds and disinfect the poultries. State Home Secretary P R Roy said there was no confirmation of spread of the disease to Murshidabad district, which neighbours Birbhum.

In Delhi, Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said India has not received any advisory from the World Organisation of Animal Health to ban poultry exports. "So far, we have not received any advisory for export ban on our poultry products," the minister said.

The West Bengal government on Wednesday sent 55 teams of the state Animal Resources Development Department to the 105 villages under Rampurhat Blocks I and II of Birbhum district.

Sub-divisional Officer, Rampurhat, P K Mondal said the teams would go house-to-house and visit the private poultries and collect the affected birds. More than 35,000 chickens have died in the last few days in Birbhum district alone.

The culling follows reports from High Security Disease Laboratory (HSDL), Bhopal and National Institute of Virology, Pune confirming the presence of the deadly H5N1 virus in chickens' samples.

The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday sent a team from the National institute of Communicable Diseases to the state.

This is the first time that bird flu has broken out in West Bengal.