Bhubaneswar, Dec. 26: The Khurda district administration decided to start bird culling from tomorrow at Kerang village, 40km from here, after cases of bird flu had surfaced this month.

The administration has also decided to maintain surveillance on other villages within 10km radius of Kerang as bird flu has been reported for the first time this season in the state.

The district administration officials said that in the first phase, 2,000 birds would be culled on the first day of the exercise in presence of three expert teams. They will collect the affected poultry from households, cull and bury them in pits.

Panic gripped the village after birds, crows and ducks had started dying two weeks ago. The fisheries and animal resources development department later sent the samples to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal. Officials said samples of four crows and five birds were found to be positive for H5N1 avian influenza (AI) virus.

The disease had struck the village in 2012. As many as 40,000 birds had been culled, and the district administration and other departments had taken steps to prevent further outbreak of the disease.

"We are keeping tabs on the village. Officers, who had been engaged in the culling exercise in 2012, were asked to take part this time as well. We have initiated steps to provide personal protective equipment kits and other accessories needed for the exercise," said the department's commissioner-cum-secretary Bishnupada Sethi.

The health department today also took stock of the situation. The department has asked the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Capital Hospital and the Khurda District Headquarters Hospital to remain alert.