Helpline established, ‘Infectious Zone declared’
UDHAMPUR: The strategy for containment of Avian Influenza was today discussed here at an emergency meeting of the district Task Force chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mohammad Syed Khan.
The meeting discussed the situation that arose after confirmation of an Avian influenza (H5N8) in a domestic fowl, here at Panchayat Dhandal, West Block Jaganoo.
Chief Animal Husbandry Officer, Dr Inderjeet Singh informed the meeting about the detection of the case and emergency measures taken by the department. He said to contain the spread of the disease it was decided to cull all domestic fowls in the vicinity of 1 km area, for which a team of experts has been constituted to carry out culling and their proper disposal.
He further informed that a strict surveillance and sampling has been maintained in the vicinity of 10 km area from the infected area. And the area has been declared an infected area as per the norms.
The ADC stressed upon the Animal Husbandry Department to evolve an effective strategy for early detection of positive cases for controlling the spread of the infection.
The Rural Development Dept was asked to carry out mass awareness among the people in coordination with PRIs about the preventive measures of Avian Influenza in the District. Further, the sale of chicken in the vicinity of the 10 km area, where the infected case was found, has been strictly prohibited.
Meanwhile, the District Administration appealed to the public not to panic as Rapid Task force teams have been constituted and acting on the ground. Further poultry farmers were advised to follow precautionary measures strictly issued by the Animal Husbandry department and in case of any emergency call on helpdesk number 01992-272727, 272728 established by District Administration.
The meeting was attended by Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Viqar Giri; SDM Ramnagar, Naresh Kumar; Assistant Commissioner Development, Mushtaq Chowdhary; District Information Officer, Er Sajad Bashir Somberia; BDO Jaganoo, Priyanka Gupta; District Sheep Husbandry Officer, Dr Sanjeev Kumar; DIO NIC, Anil Sharma; Tehsildar Udhampur, Amit Verma and other officers of concerned department were present in the meeting.