Bird flu: Mumbai civic body issues guidelines

With samples of two crows fromMumbai testing positive for bird flu, the Mumbai civic body onMonday issued a set of guidelines on reporting the death ofbirds and safe disposal of their remains.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has alsoappealed to citizens to contact its helpline 1916, if theynotice the death of birds.

According to the Bhopal-based ICAR-National Instituteof High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), two crows fromMumbai have died due to bird flu, an official said earlier inthe day.

The civic body has directed the disaster controldepartment to immediately report to on duty assistantengineers of the solid waste management in concerned assistantmunicipal commissioner's office or to the war-level war rooms.

''The workers and helpers from the regional office andunder assistant engineer will dispose the dead birds as perthe laid down guidelines,'' the guidelines said.

The civic body also directed assistant engineers tobring the deaths of birds to the notice of the state-appointedrapid response teams and dispose the dead birds as per theirinstructions.

As per the directives under 'Avin influenza actionplan to control and prevent revised guidelines 2021', the deadbirds have to be disposed off by burying them in a pit, theBMC said.

''Also it's necessary to use an adequate amount oflimestone to bury them and ensure that other animals do notdig it again,'' the civic body said.

The BMC also asked Veer Jijamata Udyan in Byculla insouth Mumbai to follow the guidelines issued by the CentralZoo Authority about bird flu.

Besides asking the concerned department to carry outawareness campaigns about bird flu, the civic body also askedthe assistant commissioner (market) to create a plan aboutcleanliness of chicken and mutton shops.