Hyderabad: Poultry farm owners in Hayathnagar have made a serious allegation that the current bird flu outbreak is not the first in Telangana as has been claimed by the government.

They say that a previous outbreak had taken place in the area earlier where 7,000 birds were discretely culled after 5,000 birds had died mysteriously.

The owner of the farm was not compensated by the government then.

The farmers said that the earlier outbreak had taken place in one kilometre of the Srinivas Reddy Poultry Farm (SRPF) where the present outbreak has been reported.

The reason behind not reporting the earlier outbreak was apparently pressure from the poultry farm lobby that did not want business to be affected.

Sources said that the farm owner, where the earlier outbreak had taken place, was ignored by the animal husbandry department when he had approached them for tests.

Deaths were due to heat

The owner of the Srinivas Reddy Poultry Farm did not send the samples of birds that died unusual deaths to the animal husbandry department but directly to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal. positive for bird flu, officials said.

As per an animal husbandry department official, the owner had gone bankrupt.

Knowing that he would get compensated for the culling of birds, he had decided to send the samples directly to the Bhopal laboratory.

About the earlier outbreak, he said due to soaring temperatures and poor maintenance, diseases spread among birds