26,000 eggs destroyed due to bird flu scare

Vadodara, Apr 6 (UNI) As the dreaded bird flu scare still continue to hunt many parts of Gujarat, the State Animal Husbandry Department officials have destroyed over 26,000 eggs of a Bhayli-based poultry farm suspecting them to have been brought from Maharashtra.

Following a complaint by the Gujarat State Poultry Farmers' Association, the regional office of the Animal Husbandry Department had recently issued a notice to the Dwarkesh Hacheries located on the outskrits of the city for allegedly procuring the eggs from Maharashtra in violation of the State Government's order banning procurement of poultry or poultry products from the neighbouring state because of the bird flu scare.

Though the poultry farm owner, Mehul Patel, claimed that he had purchased the eggs from the Bangalore-based Saguna Poultry India, the department officials, who rushed to the farm for a spot verification, rejected his claim after it was found that the documents produced in support of the claim were all tampered.

The authorities then ordered for their immediate disposal.

Yesterday amidst police, a 10 member team of health officials and workers equipped with full surgical protective outfits, buried the suspected eggs in a pit and quarantined the farm as a precautionary measure, official sources said.

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