5,300 Chickens Die In Odisha Poultry Farm After Being Trapped In Heat Amid Powercut

More than 5,300 chickens died in a poultry farm in Odisha's Malkangiri district within a span of just three hours after a power outage amid extreme heat conditions.

According to Tutu Padhi, who owns the environment-controlled poultry farm, the power outage shut down cooling systems in the facility, resulting in the deaths of the chickens.

The poultry farm was fully dependent on electricity to run cooling fans and ventilation systems inside the enclosed sheds, with temperatures soaring in the region. According to local reports, the transformer supplying electricity suddenly lost power, resulting in a complete outage.

Inside the closed poultry sheds, a heat chamber began to take shape. Unable to bear the temperature, thousands of chickens trapped inside the farm started to fall sick and died due to severe heat stress.

According to officials and local sources, the total weight of the dead chickens was estimated to be around 12 to 12.5 tonnes. The poultry farm owner claimed the loss was close to Rs 15 lakh.

Padhi tried to save his chickens by attempting to operate a diesel generator to keep the cooling system running.

However, he alleged that diesel was not available in nearby fuel stations. He further claimed that he was denied diesel in barrels despite repeatedly requesting it during the emergency. Without fuel, the generator could not be started.

By the time electricity and cooling arrangements could be restored, around 5,300 chickens had died.

Padhi said the extreme heat in Malkangiri makes uninterrupted power supply critical for poultry farms.

"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 said.

He further alleged that the denial of diesel directly led to the deaths of the chickens.

"My EC poultry farm is completely enclosed. Without electricity supply, around 12.5 tonnes of chickens worth nearly Rs 15 lakh died within just three hours," he added.

Local authorities are yet to issue an official statement on compensation or on the allegations regarding diesel shortage.