A view of the hockey turf from the CPDO and (right) the place where culled birds were buried last year. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

• CPDO one-of-its-kind institute in east India • Portion of CPDO land for annexation to hockey stadium has pits for birds killed during culling in February 2012 • Govt norms say such pits should not be disturbed for five years to reduce chances of biohazards • Acquisition to demolish a hatchery with rare breed of coloured broiler and cause loss to rearing and breeding of Japanese quail • CPDO has lost 14 of 50 acres to the stadium, for which state government is yet to compensate • Five more acres were acquired for road expansion • Scientists irked over poor planning and piecemeal approach of sports authorities as instead of developing a complete stadium complex, they are gradually eating up institute’s space • Plan may create security problems as residential colonies surround Kalinga Stadium complex

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 31: Poor planning by the state government is gradually slaughtering a premier national-level poultry research institute.

The state government has sought about 5 acres from the Central Poultry Development Organisation for expanding its hockey turf on the Kalinga Stadium premises ahead of the proposed International Hockey League next year.

The CPDO had earlier lost 19 of its 50 acres to the state government. While the government acquired 14 acres for the Kalinga Stadium complex, five acres were in acquired in 1985 for expansion of Vidyut Marg.

However, the government is yet to compensate the institute for the land acquisition. Though it promised to give the institute 16 acres at Sijua on the outskirts of the city in return of the acquisition, the land at Sijua never came under the CPDO’s possession.

A source in the CPDO said: “Two months ago, the state sports and youth services department sought 1.8 acre from us. But later, they increased the demand for construction of several additional facilities, which are likely to come before the International Hockey League in January 2014.”

The CPDO source claimed that the five-acre patch, which the state government sought to expand its hockey stadium, would severely affect their research work by completely destroying four hatcheries of Japanese quail, one hatchery of coloured broiler and a post-mortem and diagnosis facility.

A pump house and some other buildings of the research institute are also there on the patch sought by the state government.

Another patch of land, where birds were buried after culling in 2012, also falls in the area sought by the state.

Prasanna Mishra, a professor of poultry in OUAT College of Veterinary Science, said the dumping place of dead birds should not ideally be used for any other purpose as it posed risk of several biohazards. “However, if the sports authorities can concretise the area without any excavation, then there should not be any chance of contamination as enough lime was used during dumping of dead birds to decompose their bodies.”

The CPDO was established at Jayadev Vihar in 1959. It caters to the poultry requirement of all the eight northeastern states, Odisha, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

“The constant loss of the institute’s area to the state government will cause less supply of eggs and poultry lines to farmers and the common market not only in Odisha, but across the country,” said a scientist.

“Kalinga Stadium started as an indoor stadium in 1985 on a small patch of land, which was surrounded by residential areas in south and west. Other two sides were bounded by the CPDO. The sports authorities should have had proper foresight in their planning while constructing such a stadium complex,” said another CPDO scientist.

Commissioner-cum-secretary of sports and youth services department Hrushikesh Tripathy said: “The entire organisation may be shifted to Mallipur near Khurda in future. However, at present, the institute will have to function with the available space there.”