J&K imposes ban on poultry import

With the deadly bird flu reaching India, the Jammu & Kashmir government on Sunday imposed a ban on the import of poultry birds from outside the state. The ban will be in place for be 10 days and will be reviewed after recommendations from the recently constituted task force on bird flu.

A state level task force, headed by J&K Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya, was constituted shortly after first case of bird flu surfaced in south east Asia. The task force is functional at the divisional and district levels and also to check outbreak of the disease in the state.

The ban was imposed on the recommendations of the task force. "This is the best that could be done at this point of time as cases of bird flu have already started surfacing in India,"Deputy Director Poultry development, Farooq Ahmed Kaloo, told Business Standard.

The Minister for Animal Husbandry Taj Mohiuddin said there was no need to panic as the whole of north India continued to be free from the disease. He said the government had taken all preventive measures to check infiltration of diseased animals into the state.

Conservative estimates say the poultry bird business is worth about 200 crores annually in Jammu & Kashmir. More than 155 lakh kg of poultry birds are consumed in the state ever year. Out of this, about 56 lakh kg come from local farms. In addition to this, about 15 lakh kg come from backyard poultry.

Kaloo said an action plan was already in place to meet any eventuality. The poultry department had more than two dozen specially trained doctors who could handle the emergency in the wake of any outbreak, he said. "Besides this, we are fully equipped with drugs and protective gears to handle diseased or suspected birds," he informed.