Agartala, April 23: Personnel of the Rapid Response Team of the Animal Resources Department have fanned out across eight gram panchayat areas of West Tripura district where culling will begin tomorrow in the wake of a fresh bird-flu attack, the second time in a month, in the State.

An estimated 60,000 birds would be culled in the eight gram panchayat areas, which fall within the five-km radius of Mohanpur village samples from where had tested positive on April 21, Dr Ajoy Saha, in-charge of state laboratory of ARD, told PTI today.

The department had kept more than 28 RRT teams ready for culling, he said.

Senior officials of the state Animal Resource Department are now camping in affected areas to chalk out details about the operations.

A red alert has been sounded to prohibit import of poultry from outside the State, including neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 856-km porous border with Tripura.

Personnel of the BSF and special surveillance teams are also keeping vigil in the border areas, the sources said.

Samples of dead poultry from villages at Mohanpur, bordering Bangladesh, had been sent to the high security Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Bhopal last week after hundreds of birds had tested positive.

On April 6, samples from Malaya gram panchayat area in Dhalai district tested positive and 42,000 birds were culled.

A total of 43 districts in neighbouring Bangladesh are in the grip by bird flu, reports said.

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