By IANS, [RxPG] The Uttar Pradesh government in India has ordered extensive measures against any incidence of avian flu following the death of 1,400 chickens in Etawah district.
State chief secretary R. Ramani, who convened a late evening meeting here Monday in this regard, however denied that the mass death of chicken in the district had anything to do with avian flu.
"The possibility of avian influenza having taken the toll of chicken in Etawah is ruled out by local veterinary officials, who attribute these deaths to some local infection", Ramani told reporters.
"But we still do not want to take any chances and so have directed each of the 70 district magistrates to immediately set up special monitoring committees to keep a strict vigil to detect incidence or spread of bird flu virus in any remote corner of the state", he added.
Strict guidelines were issued by the government Tuesday morning to all districts to ensure culling of all chicken within a radius of three kilomeres in the event of detection of bird flu in any part of the state, an official spokesman told IANS.
"The state would pay a compensation at the rate of Rs.40 per fully grown broiler and Rs.15 for each chick destroyed", he added.
A control room is being set up at the state health headquarters here to monitor developments on a round-the-clock basis.
According to an official spokesman, "Uttar Pradesh is among the largest consumers of chicken in the country and an average of about 200,000 birds and nearly 20 million eggs are consumed every day."
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Indo-Asian News Service
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