Odisha govt\u2019s \u2018strange\u2019 decision leaves state\u2019s top woman farmer in distress
\nTo save Rs 20 on every hundred eggs, Odisha govt spends Rs 1327
\nState’s top woman farmer, husband threaten extreme step if CM fails to rescue them
\nBy Our Correspondent
\nBhubaneswar, May 14: Tapati Rani Pradhan, a physically-handicapped woman hailing from Jaleswar in Odisha, was encouraged by the Union government to undertake poultry bird breeding under the rural backyard poultry development programme. She, however, now finds herself in a state of helplessness, – so much so that she is contemplating \u201cextreme step\u201d if chief minister Naveen Patnaik does come to her rescue.
\nAfter being assured by the state government that it would buy breeding eggs from her firm Dimond Agrovet, Tapati and her cost accountant husband Santosh Pradhan, – borrowed Rs 50 crore from local banks and set up their breeding project near Rasgobindpur in Mayurbhanj district.
\nEverything was going on well till November 2017 when the state government\u2019s animal resources development department surprisingly floated a \u201ctender process\u201d inviting bids from \u201cbreeders\u201d and \u201ctraders\u201d to supply eggs to its hatcheries.
\nThe inclusion of the term \u201ctrader\u201d in tender notice allowed inexperienced traders to participate in the tender process quoting lesser prices. A Bhubaneswar based firm which quoted Rs 15.80 per egg was awarded the egg supply and rearing order to the tune of Rs 12 crore.
\nPrior to the tender process, Dimond Agrovet, the largest breeding firm in eastern India with a breeding capacity 60,000 parrent stock (mother birds) and per day hatching capacity of 40,000 eggs, – was supplying eggs to government hatcheries at Rs 16 per egg.
\nSources in the government said, – while the hatching capacity of Dimond Agrovet is more than 90 per cent, the new supplier\u2019s hatching capacity is only 14 per cent. It implies while every 100 eggs procured by government from the new supplier to supply to its own hatcheries produce only 14 hatchlings, 84 eggs worth Rs 1327 prove unproductive. On the other hand, the government loses only Rs 160 on every 100 eggs supplied by Dimond Agrovet.
\nA rough calculation reveals that, – in order save Rs 20 on 100 eggs supplied by Dimond Agrovet, the government is losing Rs 1327.
\n\u201cWhile the breeders breed eggs under a prescribed biosphere confirming all statutory norms, the traders only deal in sell of consumable eggs. We are spending nearly Rs 2.5 lakh everyday to feed over Rs 60,000 birds. But we are not able to sell a single piece and burying several thousand eggs everyday. Now, I don\u2019t see any chance of repaying the bank loan. We would take extreme step, if the CM does not take any action to undo the wrong decision,\u201d says Tapati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Odisha govt\u2019s \u2018strange\u2019 decision leaves state\u2019s top woman farmer in distress To save Rs 20 on every hundred eggs, Odisha govt spends Rs 1327 State’s top woman farmer, husband threaten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[230,1501,414,614],"class_list":["post-12289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-indus-valley-times","tag-odisha-cm-proposes-officers-disposes-odisha-govts-strange-decision","tag-odisha-news","tag-odisha-news-online"],"yoast_head":"\n