Bangladesh News

District administrations of four northern districts — Dinajpur, Thakurgaon Panchagarh and Joypurhat — yesterday imposed a ban on the import of all types of poultry, poultry products and other birds from India.

The ban has been enforced as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of bird flu that has struck Indian state of West Bengal recently, reports our correspondent in Dinajpur quoting BDR and Deputy Commissioner (DC) sources.

The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has been put on alert on the borders of the four northern districts to enforce the poultry import ban, added the sources.

Meanwhile, Dinajpur district administration enforced a restriction throughout the district on the transportation of poultry and other birds following several incidents of bird flu detection in the district headquarters in the last fifteen days, said DC office sources.

Dinajpur livestock officials said the incidents of bird flu infection at Rajbari, Katapara and Razarampur areas were confirmed by Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute at Savar in Dhaka.

The infected poultry in the area has already been culled after the confirmation, the officials added.

At least 600 fowls in three poultry farms of the district died of the flu in the last 15 days, said Debashish Bhattachariya, the district livestock official.

AM Saiful Hasan, the DC of Dinajpur, said the poultry industry in the district is vulnerable to the deadly virus attack as the flu-affected areas in India share a long stretch of border with Bangladesh.

M Emdadul Haque Chowdhury, a veterinary surgeon at Bangladesh Agriculture University, said, all bordering districts, especially Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Joypurhat, Nilphamari and Chapainawabganj are at risk of flu attack.

In Barisal, the district administration yesterday installed check posts at key entry points of the district to monitor poultry transportation as several incidents of bird deaths have been detected in the district, reports our correspondent.

People in Barisal and Patuakhali are panic-stricken over the deaths of several crows that ate carcasses of dead poultry, said locals.

Residents of Amanatganj and Alekanda areas under Barisal city and Puran Bazar, Akhrabari areas of Patuakhali town reported the deaths of the crows.

Manjur-E-Ilahi, deputy commissioner, Jainuddin Molla, district livestock officer, Dr Sunil Chandra Gayen, principal scientific officer of the regional live stock research centre and laboratory in Barisal, and Abu Taher, district livestock officer of Patuakhali, acknowledged the incidents of crow deaths.

Dr Sunil Chandra Gayen, scientific officer of livestock laboratory in Barisal, urged all to report bird deaths to the lab and send in the carcasses of the birds for clinical examination.

More than eight thousand fowls were culled last week in Barisal, Barguna and Patuakhali districts after detecting bird flu, sources said.