New Delhi: With the reports of unnatural mortality of birds coming from Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir and four districts of Jharkhand, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy on Wednesday said that the spread of Avian Influenza (AI), popularly known as bird flu have reached to 10 states of the country.The Secretary of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy (DAHD) on January 12 has advised to efficiently manage the spread of Avian Influenza in their respective states in accordance with the Action Plan 2021 via a video conferencing.The States were also asked to coordinate with the department of health and forest and sensitize them about the issue and also maintain sufficient supply of protective equipment and maintain bio-security measures in poultry farms.In the meeting, states were also directed to identify BSL-II labs at the state level for speeding up the identification of infection in the state and timely introduction of control mechanism and also to ensure that the infection does not spread among poultry, as it would have a high economic cost for the poultry farmers.The DAHD Secretary also suggested the States’ representatives to reconsider the decision of banning supply of poultry and poultry products from other states as this would add to the negative impact on the poultry industry, the states were requested to reconsider such decision.Awareness generation activities through newspaper advertisements, seminar or through open channel are being conducted by several states and they have been encouraged to continue such awareness generation activities with support from their state Directorate of Information and Public Relations and were assured about availability of funds for such activities.States should issue advisories on Dos and Don’ts regarding consumption of poultry and eggs, so as to avoid spreading of rumours/ misinformation thereby leading to economic loss for the poultry farmers, the DAHD Secretary said to the States’ representatives during the meeting.
