Mubashir Naik
In order to have a close eye on the bird flu Virus. the administration in Jammu Kashmir has banned the importation of poultry in J&K till 14-01-2021. This was announced on Thursday and comes into effect from Friday.
An order issued by Navin K. Choudhary, principal secretary, agriculture and animal husbandry department, said, “In the wake of the spread of bird flu in neighboring states of J&K as a measure of abundant precaution and in view of the declaration of whole J&K as ‘controlled area’ for bird flu disease, the admin of UT of J&K imposes complete ban on import of live birds, including poultry and unprocessed poultry meat for any purpose into the union territory of J&K with immediate effect till 14-01-2021.”
Authorities have already said that so far there was no reported incident of bird death due to bird flu in the union territory.
Meanwhile, there are reports of scores of crows dying in the Rajouri district. The authorities said they have collected samples to ascertain whether these deaths are related to bird flu or not.
Another red herring in this regard is that J&K plays host to thousands of migratory birds each winter and the spread of bird flu is primarily attributed to these migratory birds.