Chicken still being served in West Bengal's Burdwan district

Durgapur (West Bengal), Jan 31 : Despite the scare of bird flu in West Bengal, chicken is being sold in the Burdwan District of the State.

The outbreak is affecting 13 of West Bengal's 19 districts but in Durgapur town customers queued up to buy chickens at the local mart.

One seller, Bashir said, "Due to the panic over bird flu, sales had gone down. But the government had not banned the sale of chicken and had asked people to boil it properly before cooking."

Officials said a strict vigil is being maintained to check the spread of bird flu.

"Durgapur had not been affected by bird flu but all precautionary measures were in place," said Dilip Kumar Biswas, an animal husbandry official.

As per the latest reports, a total of 916 Rapid Response Teams were engaged on January 28, which completed culling of 2.38 lakh birds taking the cumulative figure of culling so far to 21.68 lakh.

The 5000 crore poultry industry in West Bengal has been badly hit following the outbreak of bird flu.

Meanwhile, the United States has offered help to India in containing the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal. It will provide preventive drug Tamiflu and protective gear to personnel involved in culling and other operations.

In 2006, after bird flu was detected in Maharashtra, the Centre had given a four per cent subsidy on interest on loans given to the organised sector and backed it up with subsidy on poultry feed.

ANI