In the days of culling, poor demand for chicks by organised farms has prompted hatchery owners to destroy the stock.

While the H5N1 virus has mostly infected backyard poultry, broiler farms have been severely affected owing to reduced demand for chicken. This, in turn, has affected around 100 hatcheries.

"Two weeks ago, a day-old chick was being sold at Rs 16. Over the past few days, the prices have dropped hugely. Now, farm owners are refusing to purchase chicks even at Rs 3 each. We have no option but to kill the chicks," said Tapas Banerjee, president, West Bengal Poultry Welfare Association.

Official sources in the state Animal Resources Development (ARD) department told The Indian Express that the state government is inquiring into this. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, meanwhile, has instructed ARD minister Anisur Rahaman to inspect culling operations personally. In a video-conference today, he appealed to all officials and panchayat functionaries to speed up the culling process.

Immediately afterwards, Rahman left to assess the situation in North 24 Parganas and Nadia. He is expected to visit all the 14 affected districts and submit a report to the CM on Tuesday.

Before he left, Rahman told reporters that the number of poultry to be culled has gone up to 28 lakh. "Around 25.5 lakh birds have been culled till Wednesday. The rest will be culled in the next two days. After that, the mop up operation will be carried out," Rahaman said.

District authorities have been instructed to carry on surveillance and stay alert.

The one-time Rs 500 grant announced earlier this week, will be given not only to families that lost their poultry to culling but also to those who lost them to infection and had to destroy eggs.