Steps to control chicken menace

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Feb. 5: The Chanchal SDO, Mr Debasish Sarkar, said today that he would request the Malda district magistrate to draw the attention of the Katihar district magistrate in Bihar, regarding backyard chicken menace at Nonator villager along the Bihar border. “After the end of culling and mopping up operation there was no backyard poultry in the Malda villages. Chickens are being smuggled in from Bihar. Our animal resources officials today tried hard to trap the chickens at Nonator, but they failed to do it. How could we control the entry of chickens here?” said Mr Sarkar. “I would inform the matter to the district magistrate and request him to ask the district magistrate of Katihar in Bihar to control the entry of chickens. Otherwise it is difficult to chase away the chickens everyday," he said. Police have been asked to intensify their vigil so that no chicken can enter the Malda villages. "Is it a duty of a policeman? How a policeman chase away chickens?” said a senior police officer. The Bihar officials had requested the Malda district magistrate to conduct culling operations in areas of Bihar which have been identified as affected zones where the Bird Flu virus was detected at Mahanandapur village in Chanchal block. Owing to staff crunch, the district administration did not accept the proposal. But now the Malda officials suspect that Bihar officials have not conducted culling operations properly.Today a team of the rapid response team launched mopping up drive, following the report that some chickens have been found roaming in 10 villages. The team has targeted to collect more than 100 chickens which have been left out after mopping which was ended on 31 January. The team has been able to collect a few chickens today from some of the villages and they would be killed tonight. “The government would not compensate for those chickens collected by the team today," Mr Sarkar said.