Members of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), engaged in the culling of poultry birds, on Monday faced an embarrassing situation in Bhubaneswar. As they approached households in slums to collect birds to ward off the spread of the avian influenza, they found all houses locked. Frustrated, the RRTs returned emptied handed.
“When we went to different slums to collect birds from their owners, we found most of the houses locked. At some places, we found the birds roaming around but we could not catch them in absence of their owners,” RRT official Dr Ranjan Kumar Sahoo said.
Sources said the slumdwellers did not want to hand over their birds due to low compensation package.
As per the compensation package, `50 will be given to each culled 5-month-old hen laying eggs, `70 for each full grown poultry bird, `30 for each chick, and `35 per duck.
Similarly, `2 will be given per egg destroyed and `6 per kg in respect of poultry feed.
This apart, the sources added, some slumdwellers gave a slip to the RRTs as they did not want to part with their birds that are of very rare varieties.
Meanwhile, at least 15,000 poultry birds were culled on Monday in the city. On Sunday, over 21,000 birds were butchered.
At least 47,000 poultry birds will be killed during the three-day culling operation. The state government went for culling of birds following detection of avian flu in a farm here.