MP Govt to cull 1,000 birds tomorrow

Bhopal, Apr 7 (UNI) The Madhya Pradesh Government will cull nearly 1,000 fowls in five villages of Burhanpur district tomorrow to stamp out bird flu.

The decision comes in the wake of backyard poultry samples at Pipari village in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district testing positive.

The five villages -- Biroda, Bholawa, Garhtal, Pipalphata and Mukhawara -- are within a radius of 10 km from the village, an official release said here today.

Compensation will be paid to 323 affected poultry keepers, while 536 houses will be disinfected tomorrow.

The state capital-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory has tested 3,509 samples from Madhya Pradesh.

A single sample from Ichhapur in Burhanpur district has tested positive for H5N1 virus on March 28, while the rest tested negative.

Vigilance had been intensified in districts bordering Maharashtra besides Indore and Ujjain, while special surveillance was being carried out in Khargone, Badwani and Burhanpur districts, the release added.

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