Business as usual at city restaurants

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20

Two days after 110 geese were culled at the Sukhna Lake, the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO), North Region, today decided to restore the supplies of poultry and its products from Monday.

Besides, the UT Administration today also clarified that as of now, it is not issuing any orders to stop the sale of poultry products in the city. As there is no need to panic, the UT Administration will not issue any orders to hotels, restaurants and meat shops across the city to stop the sale of poultry products. If anybody wants to stop serving chicken and eggs at their eating joints, it is their call as a precaution, officiating Deputy Commissioner-cum-MC Commissioner Vivek Partap Singh said.

Meanwhile, chicken lovers are in no mood to drop any of their favourite chicken dishes. All major restaurants across the city claim their business is running as usual with customers demanding mutton, fish and chicken. Only the Chandigarh Industrial & Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) management has ordered to stop serving all poultry products in all of its hotels, including Mountview in Sector 10, Shivalik View in Sector 17 and Park View in Sector 24 as a precautionary step till further orders.

Earlier in the day, the officials of the CPDO, at a meeting held at the organisation’s farm in Industrial Area, Phase I, Chandigarh, decided to start the supply of poultry and its products from Monday. The supply was stopped on December 17 after a sample of Sukhna lake goose was tested positive for the virus by the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal, on December 16.

Dr K Ravvi Kumarr, Director of the CPDO (NR), claimed to have taken the decision only after confirming that their bird farm (in CPDO complex) is fully sanitised and all birds were safe.
The entry to the CPDO complex is still strictly prohibited for the general public. The employees of the departments are properly sanitised before their entry at the main gate. The CPDO has been supplying hatching eggs to the government-owned organisations of nine states, includinig Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides chickens and eggs to the public.
Atul Mahajan, a Barwala-based poultry farmer, claimed around 4 crore egg-laying birds were being reared. The poultry farmers have been following strict bio-security and other norms of medication and vaccination of the birds, he added.
Meanwhile, the consumption of non-vegetarian food in all major clubs, including Chandigarh Golf Club, Panchkula Golf Club, Chandigarh Club, remains the same. “We have taken all precautionary measures and checking the supply of raw meat very closely. There is no effect of bird flu on the choice of members who like non-vegetarian items from our kitchen,” said Dr GS Kochhar, chairman, corporate social responsibility, Chandigarh
Golf Club.
“The business is usual as it remains in the winters. Though there is more demand for mutton and fish. There seems to be no effect in the sale of chicken. The raw chicken market is also doing business as usual,” said Amandeep Singh, co-owner of Singh Chicken in Sector 22.