Punjab urges J

Srinagar, Mar 1 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has urged his Jammu and Kashmir counterpart Ghulam Nabi Azad to lift the ban on entry of poultry and eggs to the state, official sources said today.

They said the farm owners in Punjab are suffering heavy loss on account of the ban on entry of poultry products by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

The sources said Capt Singh called up the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and urged him to lift the ban.

''The poultry farm owners in Punjab are suffering heavy loss and facing extreme hardships due to the ban by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The decision has jolted the flourishing poultry business in the state,'' Capt Singh is understood to have told Mr Azad.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had imposed an indefinite ban on February 19 on the entry of poultry and eggs from outside the state to check spread of deadly bird flu disease.

The state administration said it was monitoring the situation on daily basis.

Animal Husbandry Commissioner-cum-Secretary Dr Mohammad Deen had earlier told UNI that the ban would be lifted once the bird flu situation improves in the country.

However, departmental experts were of the opinion that the ban should continue to prevent the entry of deadly avian influenza into the state.

Besides, it would also help to undergo complete sanitation of poultry farms in the state, they added.

''It will prove very dangerous if the farm sanitation is not done,'' the experts said.

UNI AG MA RS1702