Culling opens up huge ‘business’ opportunity

* In Khargram, Murshidabad, culling was over on January 28. But prices dropped as people stopped having chicken following panic over the outbreak. Backyard poultry was purchased from the local market at Rs 10-15 per bird. The locals then called in the ARD staff, got “culling” done and received compensation at the rate of Rs 40 per bird.

These are the complaints that have been pouring in at the ARD department headquarters at the Writers' Buildings since avian flu was confirmed in West Bengal.

According to ARD sources, the government had not taken any action owing to the strong public resistance to culling, which is still very much there.

“Most of the complaints came from Birbhum, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas,” said a senior ARD official dealing with fund disbursement for culling. “After the total culled figure reached 29 lakh, the state government announced that bird flu is under control. But it was proved wrong. Within the next two days, the figure reached 34 lakh. How did this happen?” he asked.

A defiant state ARD minister, Anisur Rahaman, today tried to downplay this side of the combat operations.

“This (controlling the disease) is such a Himalayan task. Thousands of men are working in hundreds of villages in the affected 14 districts. Therefore, such isolated incidents may occur in one or two places. Our priority is to curb the outbreak,” said Rahaman. Still, the minister had asked officials to look into the matter.

D K Chakraborty, principal secretary of the ARD department, said today that they are taking the complaints seriously. “An FIR has been lodged outlining the fudged culling figures,” Chakraborty said. The government, he added, was trying to find out if the ARD officials are involved.

At the grassroots level, block development officers (BDOs) are dealing with the problem.

The BDO of Rampurhat II block, Kakali Mukherjee, said she has heard such complaints. “But unless we get written complaints, we cannot take action,” she added.

The state finance department, meanwhile, announced today that the families that witnessed backyard poultry deaths since January 5 - ten days before the outbreak was officially confirmed -- will be provided compensation. The district magistrates were ordered to take into account such households while making a list of the affected families.