Amarinder talks to Azad

Even as not a single case of bird flu has been reported in Jammu and Kashmir ever since the state government banned the import of poultry birds, the Punjab government has urged lifting the ban because it has adversely affected poultry farmers in Punjab.

The ban was imposed following the outbreak of the disease was reported on February 18. Sources said Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh called his counterpart Ghulam Nabi Azad and told him that the ban had jolted the poultry business in Punjab.

Poultry happens to be a flourishing business in the state and conservative estimates put the poultry bird business at Rs 200 crore annually in Jammu & Kashmir. The state receives most of its poultry birds from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government turned down a demand of the Central government to review the ban and reiterated that the ban would continue till the threat was over in rest of country and other neighbouring countries.

In a letter to the state government, Union Ministry of Agriculture had asserted that imposing restriction on inter-state movement of poultry and poultry products was not necessary. "The states are advised to review any such restrictions imposed at their levels."

The Union Ministry of Agriculture had also argued that outbreak of the disease was "localised to a few farms in Maharashtra and Gujarat".

However, state officials pointed out that the government was reviewing the situation on daily basis to take any decision and asserted that the ban would continue till general panic among public was over.

J&K's Secretary of Animal Husbandry Department, Dr M Deen, said that the bird flu threat in the state was different from other states. "Since Jammu and Kashmir is a border state and there have been reports of the deadly disease in neighbouring Pakistan, we have to be extra cautious," he said.

Deen said that their threat was not from imports only but also from migratory birds carrying the deadly disease.

Jammu and Kashmir receives hundred thousands of migratory birds from different neighbouring central Asian countries in months of February and March every year. It also receives migratory birds from as far places as Siberia.

He said that the ban would continue till the deadly disease was completely wiped out from India and other neighbouring countries. He also argued that the ban was in fact in the larger interest of poultry farmers in the state. "We are not in a position to take any risk," added he.