Click to play videoBirbhum (West Bengal): It's been nearly a week since the country's worst possible outbreak of the deadly avian flu was confirmed from parts of West Bengal. Yet there's no sign of the government managing to restrict its spread.
At one of the winter retreats for migratory birds in West Bengal – a location of delight for bird watchers – bird flu watchers are looking at water bodies for clues. Birbhum, the epicentre of bird flu outbreak is just 15 km away.
There's little knowledge about the migration route of the birds but there is a strong feeling that these birds could be the carriers of the deadly H5N-1 virus.
The rich reserve of migratory birds could now be a headache for the Birbhum district administration.
But villagers here are firm that they would resist any attempt by the government to slaughter them.
"The government says there's an outbreak, but we can't see any of that over here. We'll resist any attempt to kill these birds. We can move High Court. We can create a situation like Nandigram and Singur for our birds,” says Purulia villager Chhotu Late.
In Margram, the Bengal government has mobilised its killing machinery to eliminate all birds which are potential carriers of the virus.
Yet what started as an outbreak in two districts has now rapidly spread to six within a span of just seven days.
With reports of unnatural chicken deaths being reported from elsewhere in the state, it's evident that the government has met with little success.
"We have organised a meeting in the district of Birbhum. We are not satisfied with the activities of killing. We want to increase the (rate of) killing,” says Minister, Animal Resources Development Department, West Bengal, Anisur Rahman
The number of culling teams has only lately been enhanced from 60 to 400. But they have not been able to convince villages to cull their birds.
Teams are being hounded out of villages and people are still preferring to consume their birds rather than handing them over to the government and those who are bringing the birds for culling are taking no precautions.
"Those of us who are participating in the culling operations have protective gears. But the administration has not done anything for the vulnerable villagers,” says a culling official.
It's clear the Bengal government did not take the early warning signs seriously and is trying to reach out to villagers after the disaster struck.
All it can do now is hope that the virus does not infect human and wait for these visitors from foreign countries to fly away home.
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