Villagers get chicken from outside

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Dec 18: To avoid their business getting affected and to earn extra profits some of the locals have brought a large number of chickens from the various places that have not yet been declared affected with the virus and kept them in an abandoned poultry farm, the Malda district magistrate Mr Sridhar Ghosh said today.

The district magistrate has instructed the animal resources development (ARD) department and other concerned officials to identify the culprits and take action against them.

Earlier the district magistrate had sought clarification from the ARD for ‘wrong information’ during estimation of birds in the affected villages to be culled. The deputy director, ARD in Malda, Mr. NK Shit, had informed the district magistrate there were no private poultry farm.

“Yesterday, during culling operation the RRTs found four private poultry farms and culled birds there,” said Mr Shit.

Mr. Shit said: “We do not have any list or register of private farms in this district. Before setting up a private poultry farm people do not seek permission from our department because there is no such order from the government. As a result we are in darkness about number of private poultry farm in the region.”

The district magistrate, Mr. Sridhar Ghosh, said: “Many private farms were not functional before Bird Flu but to earn more profit, some private farm owners have brought chickens from outside to keep in their poultry house”.

The private farms were set up with the help of panchayat members yet during the meeting not a single panchayat member informed about the private poultry farms.

Mr Ghosh, said: “We would not waste time calculating how many more birds were culled in the private poultry farms. Today a total of 27 RRTs had culled all the birds in the affected villages”. Till late afternoon, we have culled more than 75 percent of our estimated number of birds to be culled in the affected zone ~ covering 3 km radius from the epicenter ~ Satgharia village under Norhatta Gram Panchayat in English Bazaar block, he said.