Cuttack, Aug. 22: The civic body's health wing has asked all pig owners to shift their base from the city limits by tomorrow evening.

"We have served notices on all pig-keepers asking them to shift their swine herds out of the city limits within two days," Cuttack Municipal Corporation's (CMC) city health officer Sarat Dash told The Telegraph today.

"Six major concentrations of pigs had been identified along the banks of Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers. All the pens of 60 to 85 pigs each are expected to be cleared off the city limits by tomorrow evening," he said.

As part of the drive launched a fortnight ago, field-level workers, including sanitary inspectors and health supervisors, carried out a door-to-door survey of pig population in the slum areas.

The survey had indicated that there were around 1,000 pigs in the city. Apart from six major concentrations at Khannagar, Bidanasi, Hadiapatha, Jagatpur, Jobra and Markatnagar, pigs are also reared by slum dwellers in most slums across Cuttack city.

The civic body had asked pig owners to take their swine herds out of the city earlier as well. But pigs were still seen roaming around in various parts of the city.

Yesterday, the civic body had called a meeting of various pig farmers.

"All the eleven pig farmers were issued notices there. Though they sought at least seven days' time, they were given a two-day deadline," the city health officer said.

The civic body has intensified its pig eviction and relocation drive at a time when more and more swine flu cases are being reported from various areas across the state with every passing day.

A health official of the civic body said that people were under the impression that pigs could be a source of transmission of the swine flu-causing H1N1 virus while the disease was actually being transmitted from human to human.

"We are trying to ensure that all pig keepers shift their swine herds away from the city limits. The pens should be at least five kilometres away from human habitation area," said chairman of the civic body's standing committee for sanitation and health Ranjan Kumar Biswal.

"If they do not shift their base within two days, cases will be lodged against them and police intervention will be sought," he added.