Egg monopoly: Poultry owners flag 450 crore loss

Since the centralised procurement system was introduced in 2011, Christy Friedgram has been supplying eggs to the government for noon-meal scheme in schools in the state.

“They procure eggs for as low as Rs 1.75 per piece from poultry farm owners and sell them to the government at Rs 4.34 per piece. Due to this, the government suffers a loss of Rs 75 crore per year which translates to as much as Rs 450 crore over six years. The government procures over 150 crore eggs annually,” AKP Chinraj, president of the Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association, said after presiding over a meet of members of the association in Namakkal on Monday.

Until 2011, tenders were awarded by Collectors directly to poultry farm owners, which helped them earn better profit. Explaining that eggs would be the same in all poultries, he wondered why the government has been awarding the contract to a specific firm.

“As the tender awarded to Christy Friedgram would end by July 31, the government called for bids. Besides bidders from other firms, the Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association also participated in the bidding, but was rejected for reasons unknown,” he said and added, “By not choosing the next successful bidder, we have come to know that the government has decided to extend the tender to Christy Friedgram. If it happens, the poultry owners in Namakkal will stop supplying eggs to the monopoly contractor.”