Mela attempts to diffuse bird flu scare

While officials and elected representatives savoured chicken and eggs on the dais, people queued up to enjoy a free lunch at the 'Chicken and Egg Mela' held at the Town Hall on Friday.

The 'mela' was organised jointly by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Mysore zone and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Karnataka.

Dismissing the fears of 'bird flu' as mere rumour, the speakers had earlier blamed the global firms for spreading the rumour to market their vaccines.

Leading hotelier Sandesh Nagaraj said that the scare had not made any dent on the price of egg or chicken dishes he sold in his hotel. "The prices might have fallen in the market, but we are not charging less as the demand remains the same as seen during the normal days," the hotelier said.

Small poultry farmers were always at the mercy of middlemen and marketers and have no assured or constant business. They were not getting their due price then and even now, he said urging the government to support these farmers with subsidised loans and facilities on par with agricultural farmers.

Mayor Bharathi, Journalist Rajshekara Koti and Karnataka Hatcheries Association chairman Nandakumar said that no one had died of bird flu so far and it was all a conspiracy hatched by MNCs to benefit from the bird flu scare throughout the world, like the Y2K and other global rumours.

Asking chicken and egg lovers to know the reality and make such MNCs learn a lesson, by continuing to support the egg and chicken industry in the country.

Nandakumar said poultry was a Rs 35 crore industry in Karnataka and India held fifth position in poultry and sixth in meat industry world-wise. Thirty lakh people were benefited directly from the poultry industry.

NECC Mysore chairman N.P.Satish Babu said about 1.24 crore eggs were produced every day in the State and about a crore are consumed. The rest finds market outside the State. The sale had suffered by 80 per cent on account of bird flue scare, resulting in a loss of Rs 3 crore a day.

Mysore district had 91 poultry farms and the loss was around Rs 40 lakh per day. The price of eggs had dropped to 50 paise from Rs 1.20 and that of chicken to Rs 10 from Rs 40 per kg.