Bird Flu hits Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal/New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) After hitting Maharashtra the bird flu has now spread to Madhya Pradesh's Burhanpur district and the government has directed culling of all birds within a radius of ten km in these areas.

Of the 96 samples collected from 13 talukas of Jalgaon district of Maharashtra and Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh between March 15 to 18 following reports of outbreak of the disease in the backyard poultry and deaths of birds, eight samples have been found to be positive at the High Security Disease Laboratory.

Of these eight positive samples for avian influenza, seven were from six villages of Jalgaon and one sample from Ichhapur villages in Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

Two samples are from two talukas of Chopda and Dharangaon where avian influenza was notified on March 14 and containment operations had been taken up. The other samples are from the adjoining talukas of Bhadgaon, Erandoland Parola in Jalgaon District, an official release said here today. The affected villages are Varad, Paldhi Khurd, Bhadgaon, Parola, Erandol, Uttaran and Ichhapur.

Both the state governments have sounded a high alert and Control and containment operations will be initiated in these areas. Birds within a radius of ten km from each of the above seven villages will be culled there from tomorrow.

Further surviellance of the concerned areas are under way.

Since Avian Influenza was first detected in India in Navapur/Uchchhal on February 18 more than 11,700 samples from the country have been tested during the past five weeks till March 25.

Earlier Avian Influenza was notified only in four villages of Jalgaon District on March 14 on the basis of four samples that tested positive.

Meanwhile, the centre and the Reserve Bank of India have announced relief measures for the Poultry Industry throughout the country which is passing through a severe crisis in the wake of outbreak of Avian Influenza. These include a one-time reduction of four percentage points in the interest payment liability on the bank loans of all types taken by the poultry units. This amount will be directly credited to the accounts.

A moratorium of one year on payment of principal and interest due to all banks in respect of all loans to poultry industry, conversion of working capital into term loan payable over three years, reschedulement of term loans availed of by poultry units over an additional period of two years from the agreed tenure of the loan and sanction of additional working capital are the other relief measures announced by the government.

Besides, barring willful default, defaulted accounts not to be treated as NPAs.

UNI AJ/SD-SP LS RK1755