We guarantee insurance to unorganized poultry players: Minister Sunil Kedar

Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Minister Sunil Kedar on Tuesday (12 Jan 2020) said that the government will soon take action to ensure that unorganized players participating in poultry farming get insurance cover in the poultry sector currently facing the threat of bird flu.

While speaking to reporters, the minister said that a note would be made in this context during the forthcoming budget of the state government. 

‘As the minister of the department, what I have found is that insurance firms entertain organized poultry matches, but not unorganized players.The state government will soon take a step towards the last common man (unorganized players doing poultry business) taking insurance schemes,' Kedar said. 

During a summary meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the bird flu situation on Monday, he said the topic had come up for discussion. 

In Parbhani, Mumbai, Thane, Beed and Dapoli (Ratnagiri district) in Maharashtra, as per the test study, avian influenza has been reported as the cause of death of various birds. 

Kedar said on Monday that in a village near Parbhani, where hundreds of hens were killed at a poultry farm, about 70,000 to 80,000 birds are likely to be culled. 

State Department of Animal Husbandry Secretary Anoop Kumar said they would improve bio-safety measures in poultry farms so that wild birds do not have an interface. 

Besides Maharashtra, the states where the epidemic of bird flu has been confirmed include Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.