Peacock deaths cause flu scare

By ASIT JOLLY

Chandigarh, March. 24: The inexplicable sudden death of 13 adult peacocks have predictably set off another Bird Flu scare in Haryana’s Jind district. The dead birds were discovered early this morning in and around a school compound in village Khunga Kothi, situated 12 km from Jind city on the Panipat road.

The school’s watchman, who informed the local police, said he had woken up to the bizarre spectacle. "There are peacocks everywhere and they are all dead," he told them. District administration officials who later arrived to take possession of the dead peacocks were tightlipped about the incident.

State wildlife officials have admitted that the mortalities could have occurred either because of "an unidentified viral infection".

The local police has also been asked to investigate the possibility of local farmers having deliberately poisoned the peacock.

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‘Eviction can lead to rights violation’

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, March 24: Even as thousands of people are displaced in the country by new developmental projects, the National Human Rights Commission said eviction of people from their natural habitat can lead to serious human rights violations.

"The commission believes that displacement, whether due to disasters, conflicts or development interventions can lead to serious human rights violations," NHRC chairperson justice S. Rajendra Babu said at a seminar on "Relief and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons" here on Monday. He said displacement of people from their natural habitat resulting in loss of source of livelihood is a manifestation of ever-widening gulf and displacement on account of development interventions has led to a lot of controversies and violence in a number of states, including West Bengal, Orissa and Goa.