With poultry birds at two poultry farms in Panchkula testing ‘Avian Influenza’ (H5N8) positive, Haryana government on Friday said over 1.66 lakh birds of five poultry farms which fall within the periphery of one kilometer (km) radius of the two infected farms will be culled.

This apart, the state government has restricted the movement of poultry goods and declared the area within the radius of one km from these two poultry farms as “infected zone” and the area from one km to 10 km as “surveillance zone”.

Adhering to the guidelines, the 1,66,128 birds of five poultry farms which fall within the periphery of one km radius of the two infected farms will be culled under the supervision of experts to prevent further spread of the disease and the poultry farm owners will be given compensation for the same, the animal husbandry and dairying minister, JP Dalal said at a Press conference on Friday.

He said the state government is concerned towards the poultry business in the state and immediate action was taken and clinical investigations were carried out as soon as the state government was apprised about the unusual death of birds in the poultry farms at Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh.

During the investigations conducted by the department it came to light that around four lakh birds have died in these poultry farms in the last one month.
He said that the samples of these dead birds were initially sent to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar, however, due to delay in report, the samples were sent to National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal for examination.

As per the report received it has been confirmed that birds of two poultry farms were infected with avian influenza (H5N8). He said that though this bird flu strain (Avian Influenza – H5N8) is less pathogenic, the state government has issued a notification for the affected poultry farms of Panchkula as a precautionary measure.

Divulging the names of poultry farms, the minister said that now the state government has declared the areas within one-kilometre radius of infected poultry farms namely, ‘Siddharth Poultry Farm’ at village Kheri in Panchkula district and ‘Nature Poultry Farm, Dandlaver’ located in village Ganauli as “infected-zone”.

Furthermore, the area within the radius of one to 10 kilometre has been declared as “surveillance zone”.

Sharing details on the culling of birds, Dalal said five poultry farms in the affected area have 1,66,128 poultry birds. They will be culled and buried by 59 teams. The owners of the poultry farm will be given a compensation of Rs 90 per bird.