A chicken kiosk outside the core zone in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 16: For some gourmets in the city, a yearning for chicken a la Kiev or murg mussallam will mean trekking for a few kilometres to find a poultry shop.

Poultry products cannot be sold in any form within 3-km radius of the bird flu epicentre — the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) Eastern Region — for another fortnight or more.

The bird flu sanitising process is on at CPDO. The ban on poultry transactions within 3km of the bird flu epicentre in the city will continue for some more time. Sanitising the poultry farm of Orissa University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) will be over within two or three days.

Balram Sahu, nodal officer of the bird flu control room of the fisheries and animal resources development department, said sanitising areas where birds had been culled was very important. Areas outside the epicentre, where backyard poultry was being reared, would also be sanitised. “After being sanitised, the areas will be quarantined for at least a week and all poultry activities will remain suspended. A team of experts from the Centre will come and inspect these sites. After they issue certification, poultry transactions (only sale of chicken meat and eggs, not live birds) may resume,” said Sahu. He said that in case the team from the Centre could not make it, a local team of experts would inspect the sites.

However, the sale of live bird stock in the zone could start only after three months as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said the senior veterinary officer.

The civic authorities have allowed sale of poultry products outside the 3-km zone, so that the people inside the restricted zone are allowed to procure chicken or eggs from outside.

“During the Khandagiri Festival, poultry products were available as the venue was outside the 3-km restricted zone, but there was surveillance on the sale of the products,” said a veterinary officer of a Saheed Nagar polyclinic.

P.K. Rout, president of the Odisha Poultry Farmers’ Association, said: “Losses in poultry business within the restricted zone could be in the region of Rs 3.5 crore. The state government has hinted at allowing poultry business in the zone after February 28. But everything depends on the certification from the team of experts from the Centre.”

For common people, the wait to buy chicken from the neighbourhood market is becoming painful. “The sooner the certification from the central team comes, the better. We usually buy live birds,” said Subhakanta Swain, a student from Unit VI.