Culling was delayed for hours in Malda on Tuesday due to lack of preparations, even as the bird flu resurfaced in Bengal.The culling operations, scheduled to begin in the morning, ultimately began at 5 pm and were carried out in the dark. Despite government order, the administration is yet to properly cordon off the affected areas and there are chances of the flu spreading. The teams also faced public ire at some areas.“There are extensive preparations to be made, including formation of teams, giving them tamiflu and special protective gear. Therefore, it will take some time. We tried to start in the morning but ultimately teams went out in the evening,” said Sridhar Ghosh, District Magistrate of Malda.After eight months, the avian flu has resurfaced in Malda. Official sources said the influenza had broken out at Chanchal in January and English Bazar in March.On Tuesday, 18 teams were set up, each comprising 11 members, for the culling operation. Six mobile police teams were assigned to give protection to the culling teams since the administration expected to face public outrage.In the morning, culling team members arrived late and there was mismanagement in distributing tamiflu and protective outfits, which took up a lot of time. Some of the culling teams did not even have the compensation money to pay the poultry farmers. At Budhia, where the team reached at 6.30 pm, villagers protested as they were not paid compensation on the spot. “It is very difficult to work like this. Nothing is planned. We were waiting for the vehicles, which did not arrive on time. Now in the evening we are ordered to leave for the villages. It is very difficult to find the birds and cull them in the dark,” said an official of the Department of Animal Resource Development (ARD), who is a part of the culling team. A specialist from Kolkata, Gopal Chakraborty of the DARD, is in Malda to oversee the three-day operation.Despite the government announcing the fresh outbreak of the flu on Monday, formal notification by the Centre of the outbreak in the district reached Malda on Tuesday.A high-level meeting was held in Malda to asses the situation. During the meeting, Congress MLA Krishnendu Choudhury alleged that the state government and the district administration are not taking the outbreak seriously. “The district administration is sleeping. They are not proactive. Eggs from the affected areas are being transported in Malda town and sold openly. There are no restrictions on the movement of chickens and eggs from the affected areas. Since villagers of the affected areas are selling them cheap, the infected poultry is easily coming in Malda. I have raised the point with the district magistrate during the meeting,” Choudhury said.According to official sources, though the government has directed that the affected areas be cordoned off, it has not been implemented at the ground level. Therefore officials think that chances of the bird flu spreading in the district is high.Principal Secretary of the DARD Dilip Chakrabarthy, meanwhile said on Tuesday the government had increased the compensation amount to be given to the farmers. For layer birds, the amount has been fixed at Rs 50 per bird, while last year it was Rs 40. For broilers, while the amount was Rs 30 last year, it has been increased to Rs 50 this year. And for ducks, the amount has been increased from Rs 50 to Rs 75.
