Price hike: Now, eggs at Rs 6 in govt outlets

Kolkata: The state government is taking all possible steps to make eggs available at the government outlets of Animal Resource Development department and Sufal Bangla's static stalls in the city. The state has decided to sell eggs at a fixed price of Rs 6 per egg at all government stalls. The decision of the state government comes in the wake of egg prices soaring upto Rs 7 in the retail markets at some places.

"We have made arrangements to ensure that all the 68 stalls of West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation have a reasonable supply of eggs so that they can sell at Rs 6 per piece. We are also making arrangements for making eggs available at the Sufal Bangla outlets too," Animal Resource Development (ARD) minister Swapan Debnath said. Six static Sufal Bangla outlets in the city will start selling eggs from Monday.

The administrations of the districts have been directed to keep a watch on whether the recipients of state government's incentives for increasing egg production are doing justice to it or not. The state government has given 60 lakh chicks as incentives.

According to sources in ARD department, 2.5 crore eggs are required for daily consumption in the state and the government has to export 93 lakh eggs on a daily basis from the southern states. "We are striving hard to become self reliant in egg production," the minister said.

The price of eggs has shot up in the southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Telengana too, thus naturally, the export prices have gone up forcing a price hike.

The West Bengal Poultry Federation looks after the supply of eggs in local markets are provided incentives by the state government. "We have urged the Federation to take all possible measures for steady supply so that prices do not shoot up further," an official of ARD department said.