District Magistrate Tapan Kumar Shome said on Monday "all departments concerned have been alerted. The villagers have been asked not to sell or buy chicken. They have also been asked to wear masks and cover their hands and legs while feeding birds."

Though neither the district administration nor the veterinary department confirmed an outbreak of bird flu, a preliminary report from the High Security Animal Husbandry Laboratory in Bhopal has apparently confirmed the disease affecting poultry there, official sources said.

N D Bhowmick, deputy director of state Aimal Resource Department, said "the pattern of 60-62 per cent mortality rate is alarming in the block II of Rampurhat. The Rampurhat block I has also reported some cases.

"Samples had been collected and sent to the Bhopal laboratory. But right now we cannot describe it as an outbreak of bird flu because the laboratory will submit its final report to the department concerned of the Central government and they will make the necesary announcement," Bhowmick said.

The problem was that the birds affected are homebred, the sources said.

Villagers of Margram of Rampurhat II block had informed the village panchayat that the birds they reared were dying following a brief period of drowsiness.

When the number increased rapidly in the last week, the district asdministration took up the matter seriously.

Officers of the animal resources department from New Delhi and Kolkata arrived in Suri on Saturday and started monitoring the situation and taking precautionary measures.