Other States - Orissa   

State stands firm on ban on poultry import

Bhubaneswar: Orissa Government today refused to lift a ban on import of poultry birds from neighbouring West Bengal and Jharkhand, official sources said.

“Orissa has remained free from Bird flu virus even as its neighbouring State is affected by the disease. Therefore, we will continue to put restriction on the import of chickens from Bengal and Jharkhand,” Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Secretary H.K.Panda said.

Orissa incidentally became the first State in the country to express its reluctance to go for culling of poultry birds and also lift ban on import of chickens from other states.

Earlier the Centre had asked Orissa to end restriction on import of poultry birds from West Bengal where all the diseased chickens were reportedly culled for good.

“As there is no Bird flu virus in Bengal, there is no need to restrict import of chicken from the border state,” a Central recommendation had said.

But Panda was not ready to accept the Centre’s argument. He cited an instance how avian influenza was detected in other states where chicken used to be imported from Bengal.

On the State Government’s decision of starting culling in villages bordering West Bengal, Panda said the culling could not start now because the matter was under consideration of the Orissa High Court. - PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

State stands firm on ban on poultry import
Teenaged girl rescued
Elephant herd enters Ganjam
Youth goes missing
Cycle expedition team to lead peace march
Annual book fair begins
Women’s panel holds camp court
Science Express chugs into Bhubaneswar
Orientation programme
State differs with Centre on tiger census
NCP to organise Paribartan Samabesh

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu