Thursday, March 16 2006 19:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jalgaon: The compensation being paid by the Maharashtra government to the poultry owners providing their birds for culling could touch Rs 30 lakh by the time entire slaughtering process ends, a senior official said today (Mar 16 2006).

"There are around 75,000 birds to be culled here. We are paying Rs 40 to the poultry owners per bird given to us for culling. Thus the total compensation figure could touch around Rs 30 lakh," state Animal Husbandry Commissioner Vijay Kumar told sources here.

He said that at the lower end, even if 70,000 birds are found, at the rate of Rs 40 per bird, the amount would touch Rs 28 lakh. On the higher end, the administration was estimating presence of around 75,000 brids, thus taking the amount up to Rs 30 lakh.

But the figure could rise higher if more birds are found than estimated as exact number of birds could be ascertained only after the culling operations were over.