H5N1 virus: Culling of chicken opposed by locals

The government on Tuesday confirmed finding of H5 N1 strain of Avian Influenza virus in Keranga village of Odisha’s Khordha District.

Bhubaneswar, Dec 27: The Odisha govenrment on Tuesday failed to undertake culling of chicken at the bird flu hit Keragada village under Khurda district due to stiff opposition from the local residents.

The villagers demanded that the culling start from a nearby poultry farm on the outskirts of village. They also demanded more compensation proportional to the cost of each bird culled, Khurda district collector Niranjan Sahu said.

Though the members of the culling teams were all set to start the culling of the birds after the state government declared Keragada village as the epicentre of the H5N1virus, they could not proceed due to resistance from the public, Sahu said.

Three rapid response teams, which were mobilised to take up culling operation, failed to kill any bird in the village on the first day. Fisheries and animal resource department secretary B P Sethi, however, said that the virus was detected in the same village in 2012.

"Now, the epicentre of the virus has been identified. Three Rapid Response teams have been formed to cull 2000 birds in 1 km radius of the infected place”, Sethi said.

The district collector said that there was no poultry farm within one km radius of the village. A huge pit has been dug to bury the culled birds and elaborate arrangements have been made for disinfecting the area.

PTI