Agartala, April 23: Twenty rapid response teams will fan out in Mohanpur and Hezamara blocks of Tripura’s Sadar subdivision tomorrow morning to kill nearly 55,000 poultry and wipe out the remnants of bird flu from the state.

A group of specialists from the animal resource department, accompanied by the subdivisional officer of Sadar, Dulal Das, and block development officers of Mohanpur and Hezamara visited the seven affected panchayats at Kalacherra, Mantola, Mohinipur, Ishanpur, Bijaynagar, Mohanpur and Hezamara yesterday.

This morning, the officers, along with the director of animal resource development department Asim Roy-Barman and his deputy Shishir Deb, held a two-hour meeting with the chiefs and members of the gaon panchayats.

Later this afternoon, volunteers began an awareness drive in the villages to explain to poultry owners why the culling was necessary.

“The village leaders have assured us of all co-operation and we have already identified the poultry to be culled. The affected birds have already been isolated,” said U. Venkateswarulu, commissioner of the animal resource department.

A special camp was opened at Kalacherra Higher Secondary School today to distribute medicine and necessary kits to destroy the deadly H5N1 virus. The camp will remain open for 22 days.

Five checkposts have been set up at Sidhai, Mantola, Khowai Chowmuhuni, Tarapur and Bijaynagar School Chowmuhuni to prevent movement of birds to and from the affected panchayats and the border with Bangladesh.

“We have already declared a total ban on the sale and consumption of meat and eggs within a 10km radius of the seven affected panchayats and this will remain in force till the next announcement,” said Venkateswarulu.

A special vaccination programme will be launched in the area after the culling is over.

Asked about the cause of second outbreak of the disease within a week of declaring Dhalai virus-free, Venkateswarulu attributed it to the state’s proximity to Bangladesh.

“The truth is that 47 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts are affected by bird flu and our 856-km-long border runs along severely bird flu-affected districts of that country,” he said.