She said she was not aware of what the Animal Husbandry department was doing.

Animal Husbandry Minister Anisur Rehman said: “I don’t know what the Health department is doing. We are doing our work.” He said his officers had fanned out in the area and stopped the sale and movement of chicken and chicken products.

“We have also discussed the question of sealing the border,” Rehman said.

Bakshi, meanwhile, said: “We think that the suspected cases are because of chicks brought from Bangladesh.”

The state government is yet to set up a laboratory at Belgachia to test for avian flu. Last year, a meeting was held between the state and Union Health Ministry regarding the project and officials from Delhi visited Kolkata. But the laboratory has still not been opened.