Notice served on Nandurbar DC

Nirmal Kumar Suryavanshi, human rights activist and legal advisor to social activist Medha Patkar, has sent a show cause notice to Nandurbar District Collector (DC) Jayant Gaikwad seeking explanation on the basis on which he declared an outbreak of birdflu in Navapur.

"The majority of laboratories related to communicable diseases including the national institute of virology, Pune, the Poultry Diagnostic Research Centre (PDRC), Pune, and labs in Hyderabad and Kolkata have not yet confirmed birdflu," Suryavanshi said.

He said J M Kataria, head of the department of avian disease, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), had made a declaration that there is no birdflu confirmation.

Suryavanshi also said the PDRC has submitted a report to the government stating that the infection found in the birds is a typical poultry disease called Ranikhet and not birdflu.

"Only the lab in Bhopal had mentioned birdflu, but it did admit some doubt The National Egg Coordination Committee is also continuously advertising in all leading publications stating there is no evidence of birdflu. So on what basis has Nandurbar collector declared birdflu outbreak in the region?," he said.

Suryavanshi said in the notice that the District Collector should publish the entire report from the Bhopal laboratory so that it could verify the actual situation.