May 20, 2008

Indian states bordering Bangladesh vulnerable to bird flu
 

Indian states bordering Bangladesh are vulnerable to bird flu as the latter continues to be a breeding ground for the disease, according to Indian officials on Monday.

Ashish Roy Burman, director of Tripura's Animal Resource Development (ARD) department said 47 of the 64 districts in Bangladesh are hit by bird flu with the authorities failing to control the disease and the smuggling of poultry and poultry products, putting bordering Indian states in a vulnerable position.

The WHO guidelines for bird flu culling is a five km radius but Bangladesh slaughters only a few birds within one km radius, said Burman.

Tripura has asked the central government to take up the matter to the Bangladesh government.

The Border Security Force have been asked to maintain strict vigil along the India-Bangladesh border with Tripura to prevent illegal trade of smuggled poultry and poultry products from Bangladesh, said Burman.

The recent bird flu outbreak in three bordering areas of Dhalai and west Tripura districts have led to the destruction of 200,000 birds, 90,000 poultry products and 5,500 kg of poultry feed.

The bird flu disease is estimated to have caused a total loss of about Rs 20 million (US$473,933).