Dismissing the Opposition’s charge that eggs were bought at a higher cost for the noon meal scheme, Social Welfare Minister B. Valarmathi said on Monday that the government was saving 29 paise per egg this fiscal.
Raising the issue through a call attention motion, V.C. Chandirakumar of the DMDK said there was a huge difference in the rates of eggs bought in the past two financial years. S. Gunasekaran of the CPI; Aslam Basha of the MMK; K. Balakrishnan of the CPI(M); S.S. Sivasankar of the DMK; and K. Krishnasamy of the PT also raised questions about the price and quality of the eggs.
State-wide tenderMs. Valarmathi said the government decided to adopt a State-wide tender process during 2012 to cut the advertisement cost in the district-wise tendering and to avoid the delay in clinching the price with contractors. Besides, the officials were spending more time on egg purchase. After due tendering, the price was fixed at Rs. 3.19 for 2013-14. The National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) fixed the rate at Rs. 3.45 between May 2013 and May 2014. In December, it was Rs 3.92. Still, the government was able to provide eggs at Rs. 3.19 in the whole year.
During 2014-15, the government fixed the rate at Rs 4.51 per egg of Agmark quality. The NECC’s farm gate rate, excluding transport cost, was Rs. 4.45-Rs. 4.50. The NECC itself had said 30 more paise could be paid for a ‘medium grade’ egg. Thus, the government was saving 29 paise per egg this fiscal, she said.
