The Hindu Business Line : Bird flu under control, says Sharad Pawar

The Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, today said the bird flu situation is well under control and that there is no reason to panic. "The media has blown a localised event out of proportion without realising that such exaggeration of facts would impact the rural economy," Mr Pawar told reporters at the sidelines of the World Consumer Rights Day celebration here.

The culling operations are on at the affected villages of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, he added.

The Minister also said the culling operations are being carried out according to the existing international norms.

"There is no question of violating international norms on culling," Mr Pawar added.

A total of 17,150 birds were culled in four talukas of Jalgaon district till yesterday.

There are no reports of any human cases so far, officials said.

The State Governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have already stepped up surveillance mechanism against bird flu.

Rain effect

Speaking on the wheat, orange and other horticultural crop outputs, Mr Pawar said, "The recent rain spell would benefit wheat crop in North India."

The minister also pointed out that hailstorm in Madhya Pradesh had affected wheat, mango, orange and pulses production. Despite these aberrations, Mr Pawar said the prospects for country's foodgrain production remain the same, he said.

The latest official estimates peg the country's foodgrain output at 209 million tonnes for 2005-06 compared with 204 million tonne last year, with wheat output estimated at 73 million tonne for the rabi season.

The wheat output target for the rabi season stood at 75 million tonne which was revised downwards by two million tonne due to heat wave that blew over North Indian wheat producing States.