Bird flu has caused an estimated loss of Tk 4,165 crore to the poultry sector in the country, said a report of the poultry industry coordination committee on Wednesday. The government formed the committee comprising leaders of poultry related sectors and government officials, and assigned it to assess the loss of the poultry sector caused by the bird flu.

The State Government has lifted the ban on the import of poultry and poultry products from the rest of the country, barring West Bengal. The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Commissioner and Secretary Shyam Lal Mewara signed the order to this effect yesterday. The State Government imposed the ban on the import of poultry and poultry products from the rest of the country through two orders on January 18 and 22 last, following outbreak of the dreaded bird flu in West Bengal and its spread to some of the North Indian states.

Loan rescheduling & repayment moratorium will help lower income lost due to bird culling, dip in poultry product demand & price With the poultry industry reeling under the outbreak of Avian Influenza (bird flu) in several parts of the country, banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stepped in to extend relief to the sector. The central bank has proposed rescheduling of loans and a moratorium on repayments in a bid to bail out the poultry sector, which is dominated by hundreds of small scale units.

Worried over rampant trading of chickens in the bird flu affected blocks in the state, the state animal resources department has asked the authorities of all districts to stop the payment of compensation to the backyard poultry owners who are still involved in trading of chickens.

Bird flu has hit West Bengal barely a month after India presented a roadmap for pandemic preparedness and human security at the New Delhi International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic

KOLKATA, Feb 12- The state government today decided to lift from tomorrow the ban on trading and transportation of chicken and eggs imposed on 5 February, except in the 48 blocks and five municipalities where the avian flu had broken out. Poultry products would be allowed in and out of Murshidabad and Birbhum - the first to have been hit by the flu - only from authorised farms, though the ban would continue to be in force in 22 affected blocks in the two districts.

GUWAHATI, Feb 12

Bird flu in Bangladesh Nearly 2,000 chickens have been culled in a village in northern Bangladesh after the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected at a poultry farm in the last week of December. This

>> Authorities confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu strain in Suffolk county, the UK, on November 13. An exclusion zone was imposed at the site and about 6,000 poultry were ordered to be

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