Kang seeks Pawar help to lift ban on poultry products

Chandigarh, Mar 3 (UNI) Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang today rushed to New Delhi to urge Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to intervene in the unilateral ban imposed indiscriminately by certain states on the inter-state trade of eggs, poultry and its by-products especially from States, where no incident of bird flu has been reported.

Assuring Mr Kang of all possible help from the Central Government, Mr Pawar said he would talk to the chief ministers of all the states who had over enthusiastically imposed ban on interstate trade of poultry products and this ban would be lifted shortly.

Mr Kang said this ban and scare of bird flu had cut down the consumption of chicken drastically, which had consequently led to price crash and untold misery for the farmers.

Mr Kang made Union Agriculture Minister aware of the steps and bio security measures being taken by the State Government. In Punjab, Animal Husbandry Department was taking sero samples of migratory birds and poultry in close conjunction with officials of wild life department, he said.

The state was fully geared up to meet any eventuality, added Mr Kang.

It may be informed that the production of eggs in Punjab is around 85 lakh per day and the state produces around 10,000 MT of broilers every month. Punjab is the fourth largest poultry product producer in the country after Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The annual turnover of poultry sector is about Rs 750 crore.

UNI DP SI RS1916