Maharashtra: After Thane, bird flu now detected at poultry farm in neighbouring Palghar
Palghar, Feb 19: Days after avian influenza was reported in Maharashtra's Thane, this infection has now been detected among birds at a poultry farm in Vasai-Virar region of its neighbouring Palghar district, an official said on Saturday.
Palghar's district veterinary officer Dr Prashant Kamble said that some birds at the poultry farm died, after which their samples were sent for testing.
"The test results confirmed that the birds were infected with H5N1 virus. The reports were received on Friday night," he said, adding that the situation is not serious.
Kamble did not specify the number of birds that died at the poultry farm.
Earlier this week, bird flu cases were detected in Thane district after around 100 birds died at a poultry farm in Vehloli village in Shahapur tehsil. Their samples were sent to a Pune-based laboratory for test and the results confirmed that they died due to H5N1 avian influenza.
The Thane district administration had issued a notification for culling of birds in the poultry farms within one-km radius of the affected farm and more than 25,000 poultry birds have been culled in Shahapur, an official said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
