BHUBANESWAR: After the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) and OUAT, the culling operations were conducted in the wards under the impact zone demarcated for the bird flu prevention and control measures. Eight teams were fanned out to around eight of the 29 wards, where culling is to be undertaken. They managed to kill around 235 birds and destroy 93,496 eggs. There are an estimated 10,000 poultry birds to be killed.

BHUBANESWAR: The two-day seminar on “Emerging trends in food production and safety” that concluded here on Sunday strongly urged the State Government to implement the Food Safety Act and post a senior officer as Food Safety Commissioner. An officer, not less than the rank of Secretary, should be posted as the Food Safety Commissioner, the experts unanimously agreed at the end of the seminar which was addressed by Health Secretary Anu Garg.

Members of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), engaged in the culling of poultry birds, on Monday faced an embarrassing situation in Bhubaneswar. As they approached households in slums to collect birds to ward off the spread of the avian influenza, they found all houses locked. Frustrated, the RRTs returned emptied handed.

“When we went to different slums to collect birds from their owners, we found most of the houses locked. At some places, we found the birds roaming around but we could not catch them in absence of their owners,” RRT official Dr Ranjan Kumar Sahoo said.

The Animal Resources Development Department, along with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, on Sunday commenced the culling of poultry birds at the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) in Bhubaneswar following the advisory from the Union Agriculture Ministry to prevent the spread of the avian influenza (H5N1) virus.

On the first day, an estimated 20,000 birds, including 11,955 chicks, were culled by four Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) at the CPDO, which has nearly 30,000 birds, according to official sources.

BHUBANESWAR: With culling beginning from Sunday, almost half of the City’s central business hub would come under the no-poultry zone for at least three months. Since Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) is the epicentre of the outbreak, a 3-km radius area stretching from Station Square to Baramunda and from Satsang Vihar to Jayadev Vihar, will be off-limits to poultry. According to BMC estimate, at least 29 out of 60 wards would come under the impact zone.

BHUBANESWAR: With the Central advisory in hand, the Odisha Government on Saturday gave a go-ahead to culling of poultry birds in 3-km radius of the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) here, where the avian influenza was detected yesterday. At the same time, culling will also be taken up at the OUAT bird farm.

Samples sent from CPDO test positive for avian influenza
Members of Rapid Response Teams in association with personnel of Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) culled nearly 20,000 poultry birds on Sunday.

The culling operation became essential after Bhopal based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) confirmed that samples of birds sent from CPDO tested positive for avian influenza.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has refused to change cross-subsidy norms for 2010-11 and 2011-12 that would have favoured industrial power consumers, saying, it will not be possible at the moment as such a move would lead to change in electricity tariff structure, a matter of sub-judice now.

BHUBANESWAR: The number of Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilika has dropped to 145 from an estimated 156 last year and 158 in 2010, according to the latest census data. Dolphin census was conducted in the brackish water lake on Monday and Tuesday. Chilika, a Ramsar site (i.e. a wetland of international importance) since 1981, incidentally, has the largest lagoonal population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the world, ahead of Lake Songkhla in Thailand.

BHUBANESWAR: Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei on Monday started the pre-budget consultation process before finalising the State budget for 2012-13. Though experts are of the opinion that the State’s economy has improved over the years, they disapproved of the subsidy on different schemes announced by the Government. Several experts at the meeting, including former minister of state for Finance Panchanan Kanungo, maintained that the State Government should stop the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme which is a burden on the exchequer.