RAWALPINDI, May 23: The bird flu situation in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is becoming serious as veterinary specialists have feared that the poultry farms in Tarlai and Sihala — the two other poultry producing areas — may also be affected by the H5N1 virus.

There have been reports of the virus in poultry farms in Tarlai and Sihala but the poultry farmers have not yet reported to the reference laboratory in Islamabad or the Poultry Research Institute in Rawalpindi.

A year ago, poultry farms in Chak Shahzad, Tarlai and Sihala were severely affected by the bird flu virus. It is obvious that poultry farms are feared to be affected following the outbreak of the disease in Chak Shahzad, experts say.

Veterinary experts in the federal capital blamed the private sector for the spread of bird flu by saying that “they were totally uncooperative”. Concealment of the disease would cause further damage, they said.

The principal reason for non-cooperation on the part of farmers is the non-payment and delayed payment of compensation by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

Last year, the government had approved an amount of Rs10 million as compensation to the affected farmers. However, less than half of this amount has so far been paid in one year, and following the latest outbreak of bird flu, the ministry is said to have speed up its process of paying compensation.

It is learnt that groups of farmers had a meeting with the secretary on Tuesday and demanded early payment of compensation. The ministry is expected to announce further compensations in next few days, source said.

The availability of reliable vaccination is the major problem. According to information gathered by Dawn, farmers were unable to afford the imported vaccination, while the reliability of locally-produced vaccination, though cheap, has posed a big challenge to the farmers.

Poultry farmers have no trust in the locally-produced vaccine for it being of low quality. The federal and the provincial governments have so far failed to come up with any solution, which has shattered the confidence of poultry farmers. It is learnt that the Poultry Research Institute in Rawalpindi has taken all possible measures to control the disease.

In addition to culling of dead birds, the PRI has also taken all possible bio-security measures including disinfection of affected farms. Culling has been carried out at full scale in affected areas, where movement of people, animals and goods has been restricted.

Meanwhile, another poultry farm in Chak Shahzad has become victim of bird flu, bringing the total to 16. Two flocks comprising 4,800 birds were culled on Wednesday.