Bird flu: Bengal bans poultry sale

Kolkata, February 5 The West Bengal government on Tuesday announced a blanket ban on the sale and movement of poultry products in the state though it had recently said that the spread of the bird flu virus had been controlled. Government insiders say this is a precautionary measure to rein in the H5N1 virus further while others say the government already fears the virus might have spread to the remaining districts, other than the 14 officially declared as affected by avian influenza.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will demand Rs 75 crore from the Centre to tide over the losses from this outbreak when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Wednesday.

Defending the ban, government sources said the flu has certainly spread to other districts. It is a matter of time an alert is sounded in these districts as samples from here have already been sent to Bhopal for testing. Sources also said the ban is necessary because district administrations have not been able to prevent the sale of poultry in affected areas. Added to this is pressure from the Union ministry of Agriculture which is not happy the way the state has handled the crisis.

State’s Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rehman said, “The sale, purchase and movement of chicken, ducks and eggs are banned indefinitely.

“This is necessary to control the outbreak and we don’t want to take any risks. The disease has affected almost all districts. Till today, 35 lakh birds have been culled. All affected in the trade of poultry will be compensated. We have also got Rs 5 crore from the Centre. We have demanded another Rs 75 crore more,” he added. Rehman said that a complete prohibition was necessary because area-specific bans had failed.

The government has asked all state agencies to raid markets and residential areas to check the sale of poultry, apart from alerting all to keep a strict vigil on areas. Health Minister Surya Kant Mishra said, “We are taking all precautions to check the virus from being spread to human beings. Thirty lakh people in Bengal are under surveillance. Till now, all reports on human samples have been negative.”

The government has also drawn up a compensation package which will be forwarded to the Centre. It includes waiving loans of affected Self Help Groups (SHGs), issuing fresh loans to them after the outbreak is checked, paying each distressed family Rs 500 and financial help to all who make a living out of poultry.

Government reports on Tuesday show that culling continued in parts of South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and other districts recently afflicted with the virus.