Cuttack, Aug. 10: The municipal corporation has launched a pig-cleansing drive in the city, coinciding with the swine flu outbreak in the state.

Official sources said eight patients were now undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital's swine flu ward.

"We are trying to ensure that all pig keepers shift their swine herds 5km away from human habitation areas," the corporation's city health officer Sarat Dash told The Telegraph today.

As part of the drive, the civic body had done fresh enumeration of pig population by engaging field-level workers including sanitary inspectors and health supervisors to carry out a survey.

Official sources said six major concentrations of pigs had been identified along the banks of Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers.

Apart from the seven major concentrations of pigs at Khannagar, Brajabiharipur, Bayalish mauza, Jagatpur, Jobra, Bidanasi and Markatnagar, individual families rear pigs in most of the slum pockets, the survey indicated.

Earlier, the civic body had asked such families to restrict the pigs to their premises. But the pigs were seen wandering in different parts of the city.

"We will now issue notices with a deadline to all the pig-keepers to shift their herds out of the city limits and keep their distance from human habitations," Dash said.

There are around 88 pig keepers in the city, who rear them mostly for commercial purposes. The pig population in the city is reported to be less than 300 now, official sources said.

The drive by the civic body to clear pigs incidentally follows one H1N1 death in the city. There had also reportedly been demands from the public for shifting of the pigs.

The civic body's health wing officials said people still had apprehensions that the pigs could be a source of transmission of the H1N1 virus when in the current scenario, swine flu is transmitted from human to human.

"The move is intended to address the civic and public nuisance caused by the presence of droves of pigs in the city. We expect certain areas of the city to become cleaner without them," said Ranjan Kumar Biswal, chairman of the corporation's standing committee for health and sanitation.

Badambadi resident Sirish Mohapatra said: "But, the civic body has made no efforts so far to spread awareness among the people that the virus is not transmitted from swine to men nor are they carriers of the virus."

The district administration has imposed restrictions on private hospitals and nursing homes treating patients suspected to be afflicted by the H1N1 virus.

"All the private hospitals and nursing homes in the city have been directed to inform the chief district medical officer before admitting such cases for treatment," a senior official said.