Imphal: The Manipur government on Saturday declared a 1 km radius of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal West district as an infected zone after detecting African Swine Fever in the unwell and dead pigs.
Imphal West District Magistrate declared the area as a restricted zone and an area within a 9 km radius of CAU as a surveillance zone.
Culling and selling of pork/pigs affected with ASF areas have been banned.
The government has initiated these measures under “The Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009” and they have come into force with immediate effect.
The Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department announced that it would start to cull all the pigs found/reared within the infected zone and carcasses would be buried five/six feet deep.
No live pig, unprocessed pig meat, feed, or any material from piggery farms or backyard piggery shall be taken out of or brought into the infected zone and no person shall bring into the market any pig or pig products known to be infected with the disease.
Director of the V&AH Dr. Ng Ibotombi said that they received information of the possible infection of pigs reared in the All India Coordinated Resource Project on Pig Farm on October 6.
For the pigs culled by the department, the government would pay compensation to the pig farmers, he said.
North Eastern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Guwahati detected ASF on the samples sent by the Manipur governments from the unwell and dead pigs in the state.
Fifteen samples of dead pigs collected from Imphal West District, Moirang (Bishnupur district), Kamuching (Imphal East), and Ukhrul have been sent to Guwahati for laboratory tests.
There are reports of the death of around 100 pigs during the past few days across the state.
Meanwhile, the floating of pig carcasses on the Sheng-mai River is creating panic among people relying on the river in several areas in the southern parts of the state at Tengnoupal and Kakching districts like Pallel, Kakching, Keirak, Wabagai, and others.