Bird flu: K'taka sets up revolving fund

Bangalore, Mar 1: Ruling out the incidence of bird flu in Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today informed the Legislative Council that the Government had set up a revolving fund of Rs 35 crore for market intervention in the crisis-ridden poultry industry.

In his reply to a special mention raised by Leader of the Opposition H K Patil, he said the State Government was committed to protect the interests of poultry farmers following the price of chicken and its products crashing after reports of bird flu in the country. The Government had released Rs 80 lakh to take up various measures to prevent bird flu, he pointed out.

Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister V S Acharya said the Government had sent 945 samples to different virology centres in the country to test for the dreaded virus, of which 745 were found negative. The results of the remaining samples were awaited.

He said the State had asked the Centre to provide 42 lakh bird vaccines and the latter had assured to provide it whenever it was needed. The Government would take all steps to protect the more than 15 lakh people working in the poultry business worth Rs 1,300 crore.

UNI