Day 1: Tripura culls 4,000 birds

“The response of the people was very good. This has been possible because the Government has also roped in gram panchayats for generating awareness among the villagers in the affected sub-division,” U Venkateswarlu, principal secretary for Animal Resource Development department, Tripura, told The Indian Express over phone from Agartala.

Altogether 15 RRTs were deployed in three gram panchayat areas in Kamalpur sub-division under Dhalai district, with reports reaching the state capital by 4 pm putting the total number of birds culled at a little over 4,000.

Several hundred chickens and ducks had died in the past two weeks in the three gram panchayat areas of Mohanpur, Malaya and Nagaon in Kamalpur sub-division, prompting the authorities to go for laboratory tests. The HSADL at Bhopal, on testing the samples on Monday, confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus in the sub-division.

Venkateswarlu said the authorities had set up check gates on all roads leading out of Dhalai district in order to prevent flu-affected birds from being smuggled out for sale in non-affected districts. The district shares international boundary with Maulabibazar in Bangladesh, which happens to be one of the worst affected by bird flu in recent times.

A team of Central Government officials are also camping in Agartala and Kamalpur to supervise the culling operations. The Principal Secretary said there was no fresh outbreak of the avian flu in any other district.