Don't allow NGOs to operate bird centres in residential areas:

The Gujarat High Court today directed the state government not to allow any NGO to operate bird care centres in residential areas of the city.
The high court called detection of bird flu in a densely populated area of the city as "unfortunate".
A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi, while pronouncing the judgement on two PILs, directed the government not to give permission to NGOs even for treatment of birds injured during kite festivals at centres located in residential areas.
It also ordered the government to collect samples fortnightly from the affected zone and send them to the Bhopal-based laboratory for examination.

The bench ordered the government to follow guidelines of the WHO and the Centre if the samples turn positive.
The high court ordered that monitoring of affected area should continue for three months, and if after three months the area is found to be disease free, it should be declared as "disease free".

In their PILs, petitioners Bhagwatiben Brahmbhatt and Kiran Shah had told the court that authorities did not follow any guidelines on bird flu and risked the spread of the disease in densely populated residential areas where affected birds were stored and later culled and buried.
They also questioned the manner in which NGOs operated bird care centres in the area and transferred affected birds in populated area.

In the first week of January, hundreds of birds affected with avian flu were transferred from one locality in the city to another by the NGOs. After the bird flu was declared, the birds were then culled and buried in the same area.
The state government had maintained that swift action was taken by the administration to tackle bird flu.