Culling on despite protest

PARADIP: Facing stiff resistance from slum dwellers, including women, during culling operation in Sandhkuda and Badapadia areas, the Jagatsinghpur district administration on Tuesday deployed a female member in each rapid response team to tackle the situation.

Sources said anticipating huge losses due to bird culling, slum dwellers are reluctant to disclose information about their poultry. The womenfolk, on the other hand, are threatening members of rapid response teams with crowbars, lathis and sharp weapons in protest against culling of their domestic birds. The reasons behind the resistance of slum dwellers are low compensation and huge loss in poultry business.

As per reports, poultry traders and farmers are being given compensation of `90 for culling of each duck and chicken of native breed, `70 for broiler, `20 for a chick and `3 for an egg. However, locals are dissatisfied with the compensation as they feel the low amount would result in heavy losses in trade.
Santosh Behera, a local poultry trader, said the sales dropped by 25 per cent on Tuesday. While the rate of an egg is `6 in the market, the compensation has been fixed at `3. The low compensation amount has forced traders in the slums to hide their poultry from culling teams and flee from Paradip area, Behera said and added that the administration should raise the compensation amount.

Collector Sachidananada Sahoo said a female staffer of Veterinary department has been deployed in each rapid response team to counter the irate women and ensure smooth culling operation.  “On Tuesday, 250 chickens were culled within 1 km radius of the affected areas while more than 1,000 eggs were destroyed. Steps are being taken to complete culling operation within two to three days. The administration targets to cull more than 2,000 chickens in affected areas,” Sahoo added.

On the other hand, some hotel owners are allegedly selling chickens and eggs to locals despite a ban. As per reports, many hotels have also supplied eggs and chickens to crew members of vessels which are docked in Paradip port. It is alleged that neither the district administration nor the port authorities have issued any instructions to crew members of vessels against consuming eggs and chickens.

On the day, officials of Paradip Municipality with the help of police personnel raided different hotels, eateries and schools to enforce ban on sale of chickens and eggs to prevent the spread of bird flu. A team, led by Health Officer of Paradip Municipality Rajendra Nayak, seized 40 kg chicken from a hotel during a raid. The team also seized a packet of eggs from Sanjay Gandhi Nodal School in Paradip.
Following the outbreak of bird flu, the poultry market has been severely affected in different areas of Paradip, Kujang, Erasama and Tirtol. While chicken has been removed from the menu in homes and hotels, there have been reports of distress sale of poultry in some interior pockets of the district.