On Monday, even as 200 birds reportedly died in Budhia, bordering Narhatta in Malda, the Animal Husbandry department and the panchayat of Narhatta were debating on the number of deaths in the local domestic poultry. While the department insisted that the number of deaths was a mere 20, the panchayat put it at 5000.

Amid such confusion, exposing the loopholes in the whole process of preventing avian flu, the district administration held a high-level meeting on Monday, presided by District Magistrate Sridhar Ghosh, and announced that 40 rapid response teams were being prepared for culling operations in Budhia on Tuesday.

The state Government has confirmed that test results of dead birds in Narhata is positive. The state Government officers have claimed that Bangladesh was the source of the avian flu and that probably some of the infected birds were brought by visiting relatives during the festive season.

“It is a practice for villagers to visit their relatives in Bangladesh during the festive season and exchange domestic poultry. We have asked the DM to cordon off the affected areas and start culling from Tuesday,” said Dilip Chakraborty, Principal Secretary, state Animal Resource development department.

“According to us, 11 birds have died in the past week. Our team has collected blood samples from three of the dead birds,” said N K Sit, Deputy Director of the department in Malda.

The Panchayat leaders, however, put the figures at over 5,000. “I have myself visited the villages and seen several carcasses of hens and chickens. At least 5000 birds died in the past few days. The villagers were just throwing away the dead birds,” said Akram Hussain, Sabhapati of Narhata Panchayat Samiti.

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