Vendors claim 80% drop in sale of chicken in Cuttack

Cuttack: After detection of avian flu in Kendrapada district, sale of chicken dropped by 80% here on Sunday, vendors said.
“I was selling 1,000-1,200 kg of chicken per day but I sold only around 70 kg on Sunday. We witness huge sales during the weekend but now we are not sure when it will pick up,” said Ramakanta Behera, a poultry vendor at Press chowk area here.“We have more than 25 staffers who have to be paid daily. We are facing huge losses due to reduced sales as we have to clear payments to our staff,” added Behera.
“Even chicken price dropped from Rs 220 per kg to Rs 160 on Sunday. Regular customers are avoiding poultry products while hotels and restaurants have also reduced their orders, ” Rajan Sahoo, a poultry vendor at Khapuria, said.
“I serve eggs to my children every day and chicken thrice a week. But after the detection of bird flu in two districts, we have stopped eating chicken and eggs as a precautionary measure,” said Suchismita Dash, a resident of Khannagar.
“We haven’t detected any bird flu cases in the city. Officials are visiting poultry vendors and monitoring the situation. We will take steps in case any bird flu case is detected,” said Cuttack mayor Subhash Singh.