NAMAKKAL: The poultry owners have pledged to continue supplying eggs to the midday nutritious meal scheme. Speaking to media persons after the meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers’ Federation (TNEPFF) in Namakkal on Wednesday, its vice-president Vangli Subramaniam said, “We will not stop supplying eggs to the midday meal scheme at any cost. We will continue to press our demands without stopping the supply.”
Recalling that tenders for egg supply would be called in every district until six years ago, he urged the government to restore the same. “As the contract awarded to Christy Friedgram Industry ends this month, the government called for tender under the scheme, but soon cancelled it. We will supply eggs to them if the government extended its contract to the company.”
The company in question has not cleared the poultry owners’ bills to the tune of `31 crore until July 17 due to income tax raid, he said, adding eggs are supplied to it at a cost of `4 each, while it receives `4.34 per egg as per the tender. “Now, the price of eggs is rising and if it crosses the tender price, the company will suffer loss and we cannot supply eggs for the price fixed by it for the whole year.” He said they had decided to meet the chief minister or the minister concerned in this regard.
The federation, he said, would extend support to the indefinite strike called by the lorry owners from July 20 and would not operate egg-laden trucks for two days. If the strike continued for over 2 days, they would urge the lorry owners’ association to exempt their vehicles from participating in the strike.