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Bird flu spreads to 11 districts in West Bengal
Published on Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 08:53, Updated on Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 10:30 in 
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New Delhi: It is more untimely rains like this that the West Bengal government would be hoping for at this time of the year.
Eleven days after the deadly H5N1 virus was identified in Bengal’s backyard poultry, the avian flu has reached areas about 25 kilometre from Kolkata.
Experts say that rains accompanied by the chill could keep the virus dormant and prevent it from infecting the densely populated city.
But for the moment it is the poultry owners of Sankrail in Howrah who are the latest addition to the state's bird flu map.
"The Union agriculture ministry has declared one sample as positive,” says Block Development Officer, Sankrail, Howrah, Shankar Samanta.
Besides Howrah, backyard poultry in Purulia district too have come under the grip of the deadly flu.
Closer to Kolkata at Howrah station, however, there was little check on the transport of birds.
"We supply birds from here to places like Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Barauni, Deouria, Ranchi, Tata. How many more names do you want?” asks poultry transporter, Gopal Singh.
So how is the government preparing to prevent the flu from entering the city?
"We are trying to stop the transport of poultry into this city from affected areas,” says Animal Resources Development Minister, West Bengal, Anisur Rahaman.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is yet to launch a full-fledged drive to check the birds, which are sold in open markets.
And while the government claims that it would complete culling operations in a few days, it might not have faced the most daunting challenge in containing the disease, yet.
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