After nearly a month of culling, digging and burying, Navapur wants to celebrate. As officials wrap up the second phase of their ‘‘battle against bird flu,’’ the pre-dominantly tribal surrounding of Navapur is preparing itself for five days of singing and dancing.

While Meena Patil supervises the final cleaning of her coops at Sagar Poultry farms, not very far, Poonabai has just finished mud-plastering her little shop. Both are in a hurry — Patil to bury the past and Poonabai to start a fresh future.

‘‘We want to finish and join everyone in Holi celebrations,’’ says Jayant Gaekwad, the Nandurbar collector who is still camping in Navapur, days after the media spotlight was turned off on the town. ‘‘Our teams are working round the clock to try and finish destroying all poultry related material by March 14. Then we will take a break before getting back to another round of disinfection.’’ The national teams that spent a week in Navapur culling birds have gone home. They have now been replaced by a tribal labour force, uncomfortable behind their flimsy masks and wobbly in their gumboots.

Stuffy in ‘‘too many clothes,’’ workers in Patil’s farm keep pulling off their masks, which they hurriedly put on as the booming voice of the supervisor comes across the pit dug to bury the waste. ‘‘We are insisting that they are well protected,’’ says Dr P. Anbalagan, CEO of the Zilla Parishad and the in-house vet. ‘‘Almost 11,000 personnel protective equipment are being supplied to them, including gumboots, gloves and masks.’’

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