Margao: The district collector of South Goa has issued an order and directed the restriction on the transportation and entry of chicken from Karnataka in order to avoid bird flu in Goa.
This was decided after it was brought to the notice of the Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services of Government of Goa about the outbreak of bird flu in Karnataka as per the instructions received from the Jt Commissioner (AH) Aundh, Pune.
As Karwar and other parts of Karnataka contribute to the largest market share of chicken in Goa ever since the ban the prices of chicken in Goa have skyrocketed. The prices of chicken per kg which were earlier last week up to Rs 130 per kg have now shot up to Rs 149 per kg as on today.
Big retailers of chicken in Margao have confirmed that the rise is due to the shortage in supply and have hinted of the prices going up further.
Meanwhile, the rate of chicken at Canacona was Rs 140 and Rs 135 which is the same, for the last 4 months. Leading dealers of poultry, Pramod Desai and Vivek Gaonkar from Chaudi and Khalwadem said their trade has not been affected.
When contacted, Prasad Salunke at Asnoti, Karwar, a dealer said the price of a broiler has been between Rs 150 and Rs 200 per kg. The prices, he claimed, were the same for the last three months. However, he said that the market was affected to some extent on Monday. Most birds brought and sold in Goa are from Karwar and a ban would definitely have an impact sooner or later.
The authorities were ordered to stop the transport of birds from Karnataka to Goa after the Joint Commissioner, Animal Husbandry, Western Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Maharashtra State, Aundh, Pune informed that there is an outbreak of the deadly zoonotic disease, Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) in Bidar District of Karnataka. The Jt Commissioner (AH) asked to specially see to the movement of birds from Karnataka to Goa and to restrict their entry in order to avoid infected birds from entering Goa.
The District Collector Swapnil Naik directed the authorities to restrict the transportation and entry of birds from Karnataka.
However, it may be noted that cases of avian influenza in the birds of Karnataka region was detected as early as in May this year and after several tests and procedures the Labs from Pune forwarded the information to Goa.
