Arrest emu farm owners, save birds: Jaya

Coming to the rescue of those who were cheated by owners of some emu farms, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday directed police to arrest the absconding owners of the farms and save the hapless birds that have been rendered without any feed.

Besides, Jayalalithaa also directed the authorities to confiscate the properties of the farms through courts to repay the deposits made by the public.

Since the proprietors of the farms had been absconding and the workers too had fled the farms, the emus were left uncared for leading to the death of many birds, the Chief Minister said, and added that she had directed the authorities of the Animal Husbandry Department to feed the birds and protect them.

The Chief Minister, after chairing a meeting of top officials at the Secretariat on the steps to be taken on the issue, in a statement here  said since the emu chicks would take three months to grow, she has ordered disbursal of sufficient funds to the Animal Husbandry Department.

At present, personnel from the Veterinary College in Namakkal and veterinary doctors from the department have rushed to the emu farms to take care of the chicks.

Once the chicks grow into adult birds, they would be sold and after deducting the cost of the feed, the rest of the amount would be paid to the depositors of the respective firms, the CM said.

During the past few years, certain emu farms have collected deposits from more than 36,000 people, promising attractive returns by rearing emu birds.

Since the farms had failed to disburse the monthly payment to the investors as promised from August, the depositors lodged police complaints.

So far, 16 complaints have been received against some emu farms and cases were registered against 33 persons. Of them, four have been arrested and were in judicial custody. Other accused are absconding.

A special team has been formed to arrest the owners of four farms, including the Susi Emu Farm.

Cases were registered against Perundurai-based Susi Emu Farm last week. After some farm owners went underground, the birds started to die. Officials saved the birds by providing them with necessary feed.