Krishnagar, Jan. 23: The government may have banned sale and purchase of chickens and ducks in the bird flu-hit districts but the primary school council of Nadia said it would not withdraw fowl curry from children’s midday meals as there was no ban on eating it.

Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray had yesterday said police would take action against those buying or selling birds. “We will have to stop the sale of chicken and duck meat and the birds’ movement to neighbouring districts for the next 10 days,” Ray said.

Asked how the schools would get poultry when a ban was in place, council chairman Bibhas Biswas said: “It is upto the schools to decide how they would procure chicken.”

“Most schools buy chickens raised by villagers in their backyard,” he added.

A section of guardians want chickens and eggs to be removed from the menu.

Biswas met the other members of the council today to discuss the ban.

“We have decided not to remove chicken from the menu in areas unaffected by bird flu. However, schools have been asked to take precautions while dressing chickens before cooking. Most of our students are poor and they need protein. Banning chicken will not be prudent. We have asked schools not to serve chicken in affected areas,” said Biswas.

Nadia has about 2,800 primary schools where about nine lakh children study.

Asked if he was encouraging schools to go against the government directive, Biswas said: “Since the government has not banned eating chicken, I cannot force schools to drop it from the menu.”

In Nadia seven — Tehatta I and II, Krishnagar 1, Krishnagar II, Nakashipara, Kaligunj and Haringhata — of the 17 blocks have been afflicted by the avian influenza but sale and purchase of poultry have been banned across the district.

In places like Hanskhali and Chapra, where poultry deaths have not been reported, many schools have received chickens as gifts from guardians.

“We have received some chickens free from guardians in this village. But we are serving chicken only to those who are eating it willingly,” said Sunil Biswas, the headmaster of Mondal Pukuria Primary School in Chapra.

Biswas said doctors had assured people that cooked chicken was harmless. He wouldn’t admit that the schools would be flouting the ban on buying chickens if they remained on the menu.

“Why should our schools be outside the purview of the ban?” asked Amaresh Roy of Dhubulia, whose son Subarna is in Class IV of Dhubulia GSM Primary School.