To prevent the spread of bird flu to Meghalaya, the State government has banned the import of poultry birds, eggs and unprocessed meat from Assam.
The order was issued by the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department today.
So far, there has been no case of bird flu in Meghalaya. However, sale of poultry product in the State has dropped considerably in the past few days as people were reluctant to consume chicken including those from farms in the State.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma tweeted, “A meeting was held today to discuss State’s preparedness and action plan. State and District Level Committees have been constituted as measure to counter any outbreak.”
The Meghalaya government has last week alerted all district authorities to report any unusual death of poultry and migratory birds respectively.
The Centre has recently asked chief secretaries of states and union territories to monitor the avian flu situation and keep effective communication open with health officials, particularly with regards to avoiding the spread of the disease to humans. They have also been asked to track water bodies, bird markets, zoos, poultry farms, and all their surrounding areas.
At least ten states have been hit by bird flu. They included Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.
