The results of the samples will be announced in the next few days. Meanwhile, the district administration has started an awareness campaign in the village.

The village was one of the areas affected when bird flu broke out last in Bengal in January, 2008. The state had incurred a loss of Rs 500 crore and nearly 40 lakh birds had to be culled. As many as 13 districts of the state were hit then.

“There is no need to panic. The samples have been sent for testing. Birds have died there but there can be a number of reasons behind it. We are prepared to tackle any outbreak,” said state Animal Resource Development Minister Narayan Biswas.

“Our team visited the area yesterday and collected samples of a number of dead birds from the village and its periphery.

We have sent the samples to the testing laboratory in Belgachhia. It will take sometime to know whether it is bird flu or something else,” said Udaybhanu Gangopadhyay, deputy director of district ARD who visited the village. “We have asked the villagers to dispose of the carcasses of the birds in a pit. Dead birds lay around in unhygienic conditions in the village,” he added. Birds, mostly domestic poultry, started dying unnaturally six days ago in Durmoth village in the Mongolkot police station and Koichar II gram panchayat areas. Ducks and cranes also died and panicked villagers started throwing carcasses on open fields and roads. The gram panchayat authorities then wrote to the block development officer as well as the district ARD. Enamul Sheikh, the local gram panchayat pradhan, said: “The birds, hens, ducks started dying unnaturally in the village. Even cranes and crows started dying in the area. The carcasses lay in the village and the area has become unhygienic with strong stench around. We immediately informed the administration. During the bird flu outbreak last time, same thing happened here.” “The state government had earlier promised to give cash to the villagers to buy poultry after the bird flu broke out. But no one came afterwards,” Sheikh added.