A leader of a farmer’s association has claimed that the main reason behind the current problem of bird-flu that has seriously damaged the poultry industry of the country with people involved in this sector incurring millions of rupees in losses was former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai.
Bam Dev Gautam, who is the chairman of All Nepal Farmers’ Federation, on Thursday said that because former PM Bhattarai gave the permission to import bird-flu infected chickens from India into Nepal some time ago that the epidemic raised its head in Nepal in the first place and now threatens to destroy the Rs 50 billion poultry industry.
Organising a press conference in the capital, he accused Bhattarai of wrecking the poultry industry of the country through his decision to allow import of infected poultry from India.
Stating that thousands of poultry farmers and people who rely on this sector for their living are in serious trouble because of the bird-flu epidemic, Gautam drew the attention of the government towards arranging proper compensation for them at the earliest.
