Chicken lobbies in TN pressurize to withdraw ban

As a clear signal of taking revenge against Kerala for banning chicken out of fear of bird flu, the chicken lobbies in Tamil Nadu have reportedly threatened to block the transport of rice to Kerala from Tamil Nadu. The lobbies which maintain farms have even approached the central government to exert pressure on Kerala to make a retreat from the ban. These lobbies fear that their business worth crores of rupees may be badly affected. Figures point out that other states including Tamil Nadu are facing a daily loss of Rs. 7.94 crore since the ban. Tamil Nadu is the most affected state.

A major chunk of the amount of chicken Kerala consumes daily (657.5-tonne; 1.25 lakh eggs) come from Tamil Nadu. There are no consumers in Tamil Nadu to buy this huge amount of chicken. Besides, the price of live chicken in Tamil Nadu has come down to Rs. 20 per kilogram. Here, in Kerala, they could fetch thrice the price. According to Tamil Nadu Kerala sends back chicken from Tamil Nadu 'over political reasons.Ten tonnes of chicken from the poultry farms of Theni was sent back from Idukki district in Kerala on Monday following rumours in the neighbouring state that they were suffering from diarrhoea, which officials said had been done for some "political reasons".

Chinnadurai, Joint Director of Department of Animal Husbandry, said the birds sent to Kerala were healthy and alleged they had been sent back for some "political reasons". Many of the chicken died due to dehydration after being sent back, he said. VideoPhotoGallery Ten tonnes of chicken from the poultry farms of Theni was sent back from Idukki district in Kerala. Samuel Durairaj, Assistant Director, Department of Animal Husbandry, said that though the chicken had been cleared at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border check post by doctors, some political party functionaries had interfered and turned them back, spreading rumours.

He said the issue had been taken up with the officials of Kerala state and would be sorted out soon. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are locked in a dispute over increasing the storage capacity of the Mullaperiyar dam, located in Idukki district in Kerala. While Kerala says the 116-year-old dam needs to be replaced with a new dam, Tamil Nadu maintains the existing structure is "as good as new" after measures were taken to strengthen it.

”90 trucks with chicken and eggs stranded on Kerala border With neighbouring Kerala still unwilling to let in poultry from Karnataka because of the fear of bird flu, more than 50 egg-laden and 40 chicken-laden trucks have been stuck at the Palakkad checkpost for up to 10 days. These trucks, most of them carrying poultry from Mysore, are waiting for permission from the authorities in Kerala to enter the state. In Bangalore alone, wholesale egg dealers are said to have already suffered a loss of about Rs 3 crore, while chicken suppliers have lost out on business of more than Rs 20 lakh due to the fall in demand because of bird flu.

“Hundreds of egg and chicken-laden trucks have been stopped at the Palakkad checkpost, the entry point to Kerala, for the past 10 days,” said BR Sainath, zonal president, National Egg Coordination Committee, Bangalore. “Hundreds of truck drivers and cleaners have been struggling due to the lack of food and other basic amenities. Hundreds of chicken have already died near the Palakkad checkpost due to the lack of water and feeding facility.” Sainath said each truck was loaded with 1.15 lakh eggs and the suppliers were expected to incur a huge loss if the authorities further delayed permission for the trucks to enter Kerala. “Kerala is considered the favourite destination for the poultry industry in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” Sainath said. “The state government has to do something to facilitate the entry of the trucks into Kerala.”

Aravind Jannu, principal secretary, animal husbandry department, said efforts were being made to convince Kerala government officials to allow the trucks to enter their state. “They want us to clarify whether the eggs and chicken were from the avian influenza-infected poultry farm at the Central Poultry Development Organisation and Training Institute, Hesaraghatta, or from other parts of Karnataka,” Jannu said. “We’ve sent a detailed letter to them. Talks are on and we’re hopeful of convincing them as early as possible.”

Jannu said culling work at Hesaraghatta had been completed and the cleaning process was in progress. “We’ve collected 440 blood samples from 20 poultries and 68 villages in a 10-km radius of Hesaraghatta, the epicentre of the outbreak of avian influenza,” he said. “We’re waiting for results from the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal. So far, the surveillance teams have not found any person or chicken at poultry farms [to be] affected with avian influenza.