Sale of chicken, eggs banned within 1 km of Karnal village

Tribune News Service

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Karnal/K’shetra, January 19

The district authorities have banned the sale of chicken and eggs within 1 km of Kohand village after the death of over 50,000 chickens at three poultry farms.

Report awaited

A preliminary report from a Jalandhar lab has indicated the outbreak of bird flu, but we are awaiting the confirmatory report from Bhopal. –  Karnal DC

Vigil increased

SDMs have been told to hold meetings with poultry farm owners and create a WhatsApp group to share information regarding the situation. – Kurukshetra DC

The area is being barricaded to halt the supply of chicks to poultry farms and chicken and eggs from farms to other areas.

“A preliminary report from a Jalandhar lab has indicated the outbreak of bird flu, but we are awaiting the confirmatory report from Bhopal,” said Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar. At least 35 rapid response teams had been formed to monitor the poultry farms, he added.

The DC said they had done all preparations for the culling of chickens, if the report from Bhopal confirmed bird flu.

In Kurukshetra, the administration has formed 36 rapid action teams to keep a close watch on all 249 poultry farms in the district, though no bird flu case has been reported here so far.

Deputy Commissioner Sharandeep Kaur on Tuesday directed subdivisional magistrates (SDMs) to hold meetings with poultry farm owners and create a WhatsApp group to share information and pay attention to the immunity of birds.

A control room has been set up at the Mini-Secretariat to monitor the situation. As per reports, there are 38.68 lakh birds in 249 poultry farms in the district. The farm owners have been issued guidelines to prevent the bird flu outbreak.

Dr Jasvir, an official from the Animal Husbandry Department, said there were 114 layer farms having 27.66 lakh birds, 133 broiler farms (10.54 lakh birds) and two hatcheries (48,000 birds).

Following the guidelines issued by the government, a ban has been imposed on feeding chicken to zoo animals.