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Fresh cases of backyard poultry deaths were reported from Bongaon today. The government is sending samples to the Bhopal laboratory.
“Avian flu has been completely controlled here. We lifted the ban because there is no proof of the bird flu spreading, and neither has any case of human infection surfaced yet. But it is true that results of some samples are yet to come in,” said Anisur Rahman, state ARD minister. The minister also confirmed the WHO guideline. “We have to test the affected areas after three months. Meanwhile, no chicken-rearing can take place there,” the minister added.
According to WHO guidelines, after culling and mopping operations are over, the affected area has to be quarantined for three months and fresh tests undertaken to check if the virus has been contained. Not until reports for the tests (after three months) come negative that the the area can be cited as virus free.
However, at the ground level, even after the state government declared that culling operations were over, chickens, hens and ducks continued to roam around in the villages.
Test results for a large number of samples from Bhopal laboratory are yet to be received by the state government, many of which are from Siliguri and Darjeeling districts, till now not a directly-affected area. Moreover, samples from Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas are also awaited. So it is not clear whether the virus has spread to other districts, apart from 14 districts which were directly affected.
Poultry associations demand compensation for Rs 400 cr loss
After the government lifted the statewide ban on poultry, various poultry associations in the state met in the city for a press conference to raise their demands and address the public in general.
They now claim to have suffered a loss of around Rs 400 crore and demanded compensation from the government.
Stating that the state government has given them a clean-chit, they urged the citizens to resume consumption of poultry.
The meet was followed by a sumptuous spread of chicken delicacies.
“We have suffered huge losses, to the tune of Rs 400 crore, all across the state. After meeting Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, and Asim Dasgupta, state Finance Minister, to demand proper compensation, we were told that a package is being planned,” said Madan Mohan Maity, chairman, National Egg Co-ordination Committee, West Bengal and secretary of West Bengal Poultry Forum.
“There is no need to be paranoid about eating chicken or its other products. Yesterday, the state government told us that none of the samples sent for organised poultry tested positive for Bird Flu. Even WHO statements say that chicken, if cooked properly, is safe to be consumed. Nearly 50,000 of the over-60,000 organised farms in the state use modern up-to-date safety measures,” added Maity. According to the Forum, the organised poultry industry in Bengal was growing by 18 per cent to 25 per cent every year.
But after Bird Flu broke out, business has fallen in dire straits. The Forum members informed that 5.5 crore people are associated with organised poultry and have been badly affected.
Abhijit Kanjilal, member of West Bengal Broiler Co-ordination Committee, said, “We are supporting the state government in combating the flu and are hopeful that our plight will be addressed. Each farm owner has incurred a loss of Rs 50 per chicken. But we still do not think that prices will rise after normalcy resumes.”
Meanwhile, sale of chickens and eggs resumed in Kolkata today, but the response among consumers was poor.
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