Valsad stops import of poultry products from other states

SURAT: Valsad administration is unofficially stopping all poultry products from coming into and going out of the district ever since it learnt about suspected bird flu deaths of three ducklings in the Union territory of Daman on Saturday last.
There is no ban on sale of chickens and eggs because bird flu has not been detected in Valsad, yet the local administration has unofficially asked police to not let into the district any vehicle carrying poultry products, sources said.This is because some ducks too had died in Daman and a report on them is still awaited by the authorities there.
The ducklings that died in Daman had not gone from Valsad but the ducks surely were from an ‘aquarium’ in the district. The report by the laboratory in Bhopal had by mistake said the ducks were found infected with bird flu when it should have said ducklings. The Daman administration immediately banned poultry products in the infected area until further orders, but it did create panic in nearby Valsad too.
“We too are keen on what the report says on the cause of death of the ducks. The Daman administration should get the report within three days and until then we have asked the police to not allow any vehicle into the district with poultry products,” said an officer of Valsad administration.
District collector Remya Mohan said, “Our 43 teams from animal husbandry department and 32 teams from health department are camping in Valsad. These teams have collected 2,300 samples until Sunday, but so far no trace of bird flu has been found in the district.”