The Hindu Business Line : Maharashtra poultry farmers to meet Chief Minister

The Akhil Maharashtra Poultry Farmers Welfare Association would meet the Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, soon to draw his attention to their problems in the aftermath of the bird flu outbreak.

Mr Milind Monkar, Member, Maharashtra Poultry Association, told Business Line that the association committee would be meeting the Chief Minister within a day or two and would place their recommendations before him.

The recommendations include seeking compensation for the loss that has been incurred because of the bird flu as also requesting the Government to offer cash credit at subsidised rates for buying the feedstock. He said the stock that would be required to feed the birds that are alive would be close to 1,200 tonnes per day in Maharashtra alone.

Heavy losses

Mr Monkar said the poultry industry has lost close to Rs 150 crore since the outbreak and a similar amount would be lost again if no instant decision is taken.

He said the association has also taken the decision to kill one crore birds in the State. As of today, about four lakh birds have already been culled and the entire action of culling the one crore birds would happen within the next 20 days.

"The Government is opposing this move and has said that this should be done after the panchnama, where in their representative would be present during the culling of birds.

"But the Government has not sent any representative and we are going ahead with the decision that has been taken,'' he said.

He pointed out that since all the neighbouring States had banned entry of poultry products, Maharashtra would be affected if all incoming poultry products into the State is not banned with immediate basis. He said the State was losing about Rs 3.5 crore on broiler birds, Rs 75 lakhs on eggs and Rs 75 lakhs due to the stoppage of exports, taking the total to Rs 5 crore on a daily basis.

He also said "we want to draw your attention to the fact that chicken and eggs are safe to eat when properly cooked and no human case has found neither in Navapur, Jalgaon or in any part of India till today.''