Bhubaneswar: More than 5,300 chickens perished within three hours at an environment-controlled (EC) poultry farm in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Sunday following a prolonged power outage.
The farm owner, Manoj Pandhi who had built the huge farm with his daughter, an engineering graduate, under a government scheme on the outskirts of Malkangiri, suffered an estimated loss of around Rs 15 lakh.
According to sources, a sudden power outage, triggered by a damaged transformer, shut down the critical cooling fans and ventilation systems essential for the enclosed sheds. With temperatures soaring in the region, the enclosed facility rapidly turned into a heat trap, leading to severe heat stress among the birds.
The farm owner attempted to operate a diesel generator to keep the cooling system running but fuel was not available at the nearby filling station. Padhi further alleged that he was denied diesel in barrels despite repeated emergency requests. “Due to the diesel problem, I suffered a huge loss. There was a power outage, and the generator could not run without diesel. In the extreme heat of Malkangiri, nearly 7 litres of diesel is required to operate the generator even for one hour,” he told reporters.
Padhi claimed that the unavailability of diesel directly contributed to the tragedy. “My EC poultry farm is completely enclosed. I lost 5300 chicken from the total 14,000 and suffered a loss of Rs 14 lakh within just three hours,” he added.
Local authorities have not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident, potential compensation, or the allegations of diesel unavailability.
