Central official in W’nagar to oversee operation
From Our Correspondent
Tura: A total of 1043 chickens have been culled from the infected government poultry farm and nearby areas within a 1-km radius of the affected zone in Williamnagar town of East Garo Hills since Thursday evening, Deputy Commissioner Praveen Bakshi informed.
Thirteen Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) specially set up to counter the outbreak of bird flu have been engaged in the operation to cull the birds and on Thursday evening the entire stock of 561 birds in the government farm were culled overnight.
On Friday an additional 482 chickens in individual houses and private farms within the 1-km radius were exterminated as part of the strategy to contain the spread of the influenza virus.
“Our target is to cull as many as 8000 birds within the 3-km affected zone,” Bakshi said.
The Central Government has also dispatched one senior government official with expertise in bird flu containment to Williamnagar to oversee the ongoing operation against the disease.
Also, more than a dozen teams consisting of health workers monitored by magistrates have been formed to visit the far nooks and corners of the district to spread information on the bird flu and ways to take precautions. The teams will also caution villagers from dumping dead birds into streams and rivers since that would lead to contamination of the water and spread of the disease.
There are reports of villagers dumping dead birds into the Simsang river and administration is taking up the matter seriously, according to the Deputy Commissioner.
Meanwhile, the administration in Williamnagar has also formed mobile health teams to undertake door to door visit of homes to check for any patients suffering from flu like symptoms.
The biggest worry for authorities is the possible spread of bird flu from poultry to humans leading to the highly infectious outbreak of Avian Flu disease in people that could lead to catastrophic consequences, it is felt.
Safe disposal of carcass urged by authorities: The Williamnagar administration has given an important information that should anyone come across dead birds or its carcass they should follow laid down rules of informating authorities and if need be must follow the systematic proceduere of safe handling of the remains.
Any carcass found beyond the 3-km affected zone must not be thrown into the river and instead a deep pit must be dug and the dead bird dumped in it with sufficient amount of lime to kill the virus before sealing the pit.
Also, the pit must not be shallow, nor should it be dug in a low lying area where there is every possibility of it being washed away by rains which could cause contamination.