Mopping operation begins in Siliguri

Statesman News Service
SILIGURI, Jan. 7: Mopping up operation began today in the bird flu affected areas of Siliguri sub-division as a follow up to the culling process which started last Saturday. The operation has been smooth so far, according to the district and sub divisional officials. Mopping operation also started at the Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri district today.
About 30,000 birds were killed in course of the four-day culling operation, which ended yesterday. The bird killing campaign is expected to be over by tomorrow evening with the completion of the mopping exercise.
The Darjeeling district magistrate, Mr Surendra Gupta, said today that around 700 birds were slaughtered today, the first day of the mopping operation in the Siliguri sub-division. “The exact figure would be higher as reports from all the teams are yet to reach here,” he said.
Mr Gupta further said that the bird elimination campaign would be over with the mopping up tomorrow. “The sanitisation and the monitoring process would start day after tomorrow and these would continue for some days till the monitoring officials to be deputed by the Centre and the state government give the final certificate signaling the end of the entire process,” the Darjeeling DM said.
Briefing for the Jalpaiguri district the ADM (general), Mr NG Hira, said that around 1,500 birds had been killed in the course of culling at the Rajganj block. “Mopping has started today and it would be completed tomorrow,” he said.