New Delhi: With reports coming in of over 200 crows dying in an East Delhi park over the past week and cases of bird flu reported in various parts of the country, the Delhi government on Saturday decided to ban the import of all live birds into the city and closed its biggest wholesale poultry market at Ghazipur for ten days.Announcing the decision, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said cases of bird flu have been reported in different parts of the country, causing concern. So far, he said, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala have reported some cases of the virus.In Delhi, he said, there was no confirmed case so far, but the Delhi government has taken 104 samples (of dead birds) and sent them to the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar, Punjab for evaluation. “The results are expected by Sunday and on the basis of these, further decisions would be taken,” he said.He said the Delhi government is following the Centre directions and guidelines, and is taking necessary action. He said rapid response teams have been constituted in all the districts of Delhi under the supervision of the respective district magistrate for surveillance and containment of bird flu.Water bodies, bird markets put under surveillanceHe said veterinary officers are visiting all the bird markets, wildlife establishments and water bodies for surveillance. “The focus of these teams was on poultry market Ghazipur, Shakti Sthal Lake, Bhalaswa Lake, Sanjay Lake, Delhi Zoo and DDA parks at Hauz Khas Village, Paschim Vihar and Dwarka,” Kejriwal said.He said a 24-hour helpline has been set up at 011-23890318. He said reports of crows dying in various parts of the city have been received and the rapid response teams have acted on these.Earlier, there was a scare in Delhi after 15-20 crows were found dead in the Central Park in Mayur Vihar Phase III in East Delhi. The caretaker of the park, Tinku Chaudhary, was quoted as claiming that over 200 crows had died there over the past week.“Nearly 200 crows have died here till now. Sanitation drives are being carried out and we’ve shut it for visitors. Bodies of five crows were taken away by officials yesterday and they’ve been sent to Jalandhar for testing,” he told news agency ANI.Culling of 1.6 lakh birds begins in PanchkulaMeanwhile, a drive to cull over a lakh poultry was initiated in Panchkula in Haryana, where over 4 lakh birds had died due to suspected bird flu earlier this month. District official went on record to state that nearly 1.6 lakh poultry birds would be culled at five poultry farms.The district has over 100 poultry farms in the Barwala-Raipur Rani area with a total bird population of around 80 lakh.The move to cull the birds was initiated after some birds in two poultry farms at Kheri and Ganauli village tested positive for the H5N8 strain of avian flu. Last month, around 4 lakh birds had also died of suspected bird flu at these farms.The Haryana government, which had declared Rs 90 compensation per bird, has in the meantime demarcated the area falling within 1 km radius of the two poultry farms as an ‘infected zone’ and a further area up to 10 km from them as ‘surveillance zone’.