CHENNAI: Minister of social welfare and nutritious noon meal programme V Saroja has said that egg distribution in noon meal scheme will continue without any disruption regardless of the market price, since eggs are procured at a fixed price for a year.
She rejected reports in a section of media and DMK working president M K Stalin’s allegations on withdrawal of eggs in the noon meal scheme as baseless. Minister said price quotation for egg procurement for nutritious meal scheme programme for a year is being implemented through the State-Level Single Tender System since 2012.
The price of egg is fixed by the State government after comparing the prices quoted by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), Namakkal zone.
“For 2017-18, eggs are procured from the supplier companies at the rate of Rs 4.34 per egg from August 2017 to July 2018. The contractors had been supplying eggs twice a week to schools and once in a week to Anganwadis regularly across the State,” explained V Saroja. About 69.31 lakh children in the age group of two to 15 are benefited across the State, of which 16 lakhs children are in Anganwadis and 53.31 studying in schools.