India blames Bangladesh as bird flu spreads

By Biswajyoti Das

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Authorities battling an outbreak of bird flu in poultry in Tripura blamed Bangladesh for the spread on Thursday, but many experts said India was not doing enough to contain the virus.

More than 25,000 chickens and ducks have already been slaughtered in Tripura this month after it was hit by the H5N1 strain.

On Thursday, authorities chose to blame neighbouring Bangladesh after they received reports of new bird flu cases in the state.

"Unless bird flu is contained completely in Bangladesh, the virus will keep spreading in Tripura," U. Venkatateswarlu, a top official of the animal resource development department said.

The remote northeastern state borders Bangladesh, where more than half the country's districts have been affected by the virus.

"Our main problem in controlling the situation is because of close proximity with Bangladesh," Venkatateswarlu added.

But many people disagreed.

For the past two days, while hundreds of birds mysteriously died in remote villages, complaints from people were largely ignored by state authorities, some officials and animal experts said.