Culling to start in Assam from tomorrow

Guwahati, Feb 2 (UNI) Culling of chickens in Assam's two border districts along West Bengal will start from tomorrow morning, after the Centre ordered for the culling as a preventive measure yesterday.

Assam Veterinary and Animal Husbandry department commissioner A Mawara informed that the deputy commissioners of Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts have been issued orders and culling would start tomorrow.

He, however, asserted that the culling was only a preventive step and no bird flu case has been reported in the state till now.

Mr Mawara added that preventive culling had also been ordered in the other states which shares borders with West Bengal.

The Centre had taken the decision to cull the chickens on the basis of report submitted by a Union Health and Veterinary departments' team that had visited North East after the outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal.

The culling of birds would be carried out within five km radius of Assam-West Bengal border in the districts of Dhubri and Kokrajhar.

The detection of bird flu in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal had brought the dreaded disease right up to the threshold of Assam, creating panic in the state.

Import of poultry from West Bengal had already been banned in the NE states after the confirmation of bird flu outbreak in the neighbouring state on January 15.

UNI SG KK KK HT1917