Bird flu has spread to almost half of West Bengal with Cooch Behar and Hooghly being added on Wednesday to the list of districts affected by the disease, even as the state’s Animal Resources Development (ARD) department requested the police to ensure that poultry and its products from affected areas are not allowed to enter Kolkata. It has been decided to depute ARD department employees with police to man checkposts.ARD Minister Anisur Rahman said the ban would not apply to frozen chickens from organised poultry units like Arambagh’s, which were in areas not yet declared affected by the Centre. “For now, we are stopping the entry of poultry and products only from the affected areas,” he told mediapersons. Death of chickens was also reported from Howrah, bordering Kolkata. Even in the already affected Nadia and Murshidabad districts, local administration officials said more blocks had reported bird flu. “Samples of chicken sent from Cooch Behar and Hooghly districts to the High-risk Security Disease Laboratory (HSDL) in Bhopal on Tuesday tested positive,” Rahman said. Nine districts—Birbhum, Murshidabad, South Dinajpur, Burdwan, Nadia, Bankura, Malda, Cooch Behar and Hoogly—out of 19 in West Bengal have so far fallen prey to avian flu.“Steps are being taken to officially notify both districts as bird flu affected for the next course of action, including culling,” the minister said.The samples which tested positive were from Dinhata in Cooch Behar and Balagarh in Hooghly. The minister said there was, however, no case of human beings being affected.The target of culling, set at 20 lakh spread over seven days, was also likely to be raised, he added. “Initially, there was a lack of awareness among us and villagers were also not keen on allowing us to cull their birds. But now, the operation has gathered pace,” Rahman said and added that he expected the culling target to be met in four or five days, provided the virus did not enter new areas.
