Ban on import of eggs lifted for 3 months

GANGTOK, 30 Oct: With the demand of eggs remaining unmet as the festive and tourist season peaks, the AH&VS Department has, in what may be called a welcome decision, lifted the ban on import of eggs into the State. This lifting of the ban is only for a period of three months for now. As a result, egg prices have come down to Rs 5 apiece from the Rs 7-10 it was fetching in the local market when the ban was in place.
A notification dated 20 October 2012, the last working day before the Dasain holidays, announced that “in partial amendment of Notification No.1/AHLF&VS dated 22.04.2010 and in exercise of the powers conferred by the sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Sikkim (Livestock and Livestock Control) Act, 1985, the State government duly considering important festivals and tourist season is hereby pleased to lift the ban on import of eggs temporarily for a period of three months (01 October to 31 December, 2012).”
Significantly, the notification does not state that there is no longer any threat of bird flu.
At the same time it has also to be pointed out that while the ban had been initially imposed in April 2010 on the supposed threat of bird flu the notification lifting the ban temporarily does not mention bird flu at all.
It needs to be asked whether bird flu has taken a break due to important festivals and tourist season and will be back in 3 months time or was the ban on eggs and poultry for some other reasons? It also needs to be mentioned here that the lifting of the ban is only for eggs and not other poultry products, which itself again, is confusing.
Officials inform that the state government has lifted the ban keeping in view the interest of the local people who are, because of the short-fall of eggs, being deprived of protein availability in their everyday diet. Furthermore officials contend that lifting the ban would also facilitate sufficient supply of eggs in the market and cater to the huge and rising demand in Sikkim. This does not make much sense as people would, in all likelihood, still need proteins after 3 months and the huge demand for eggs was always there.  
The AH&VS, Secretary, DP Sharma, explains that through the next three months, the state government has desired that the department conduct a ground level survey of egg production, the requirement, the supply chain and in the process consider and develop a support mechanism for better economic generation initiatives for the local farmers.
“The department has already instructed the Additional Director, Poultry, who has written to the respective Joint Directors in all the four districts who are the district heads of the department to prepare and submit their viability reports along with the need for better marketing strategies for local produce within the stipulated time period,” informed the Secretary.
He adds that after the survey is completed, the department will reconsider its decision on the ban and formulate an action plan for enhancing production of locally produced eggs.
While speaking on the earlier ban on poultry import into the state, the officials informed that the consumers had expressed that there is sufficient poultry in the market because of which the department had not deemed it necessary to lift the ban.
Here too it needs to be pointed out that the ban on poultry, as per the notification of April 2010, was imposed due to threat of bird flu and not due to sufficiency in the market. Such a justification reeks of arbitrariness.
The government has imposed conditions for any person who wants to import eggs into the state which include a possession of a valid Trade License. Similarly, the trader shall pay all applicable taxes at all entry points. It is also required for a trader to produce a challan issued by the Firm, tax payment slip on demand by the authorized officials which is basically a No Objection Certificate.

Poultry import ban throws up another shocker – 4,000 seized eggs to be destroyed!

GANGTOK, 16 Oct: Should the government destroy 4,000 eggs just because it insists on continuing with an ill-advised ban on entry of poultry products into the State? There are three notifications issued by the central government including a press release by the Press Information Bureau, the latest having been issued in August 2012, that India is bird flu free. But the Animal Husbandry Department is adamant that bird flu exists and Sikkim needs to be protected against it with a ban. And on this basis [of a ban on entry of poultry products in the State] the authorities today confiscated 4,400 eggs brought into Sikkim by some traders on the grounds that a particular and arbitrary notification of the state suggests that only two government agencies exist that are capable of bringing “non bird flu affected” eggs into the state.
Today, the Sadar police, invoking the notification directing that no one else is authorized to bring in poultry products into Sikkim, raided two shops in Lall Bazaar and seized around 4,400 eggs and handed over the eggs to the Animal Husbandry Department. It is informed that the department will be destroying these eggs.
Ridiculously enough, a few days back eggs seized from Lall Bazaar and in all probability sourced from the same market in Siliguri were let go by the authorities on the grounds that they had been authorized by the department. When approached earlier with a query on where the Department had ‘authorized’ the last purchase from, it was admitted that these were lifted from the open market in Siliguri. However, now eggs from the same market purchased by a private entity become contraband! This is double standards.
What seems to be escaping the attention of the concerned officials is that the illogical ban is forcing a shortage which is spiking the price of eggs in local markets, at least in Gangtok. Where eggs cost Rs. 4 per piece at the most in Siliguri, in Gangtok, securing one for even Rs. 7 is difficult [due to limited supply].
The department of Animal Husbandry here continues to believe – and forces us to believe that the centre has not lifted the notice of bird flu. To put the record straight the central government has issued three notifications, dated 04 July 2011, 29 December, 2011 and the latest, 31 August, 2012 declaring India to be bird flu free.
When approached earlier this week, officials at the department, however, stated that the centre had not yet declared the country bird flu free; this was given as the reason behind the continuing ban on poultry products in Sikkim.
So while the state government continues on in its self-induced slumber the general public is getting a rude shock for its daily breakfast. The inflated prices pinch every time but the department continues with the arbitrary ban.
It is clear that Lall Bazaar, the major commercial hub in Gangtok, is failing to meet the demands of the day-to-day consumption of poultry products and in order to meet this growing demand, the local traders and hawkers require even more substantial and sustainable supply of eggs and poultry products in the market.
Statistics shared by traders suggests that Gangtok’s demand for eggs is approximately 200 crates or 6,000 eggs per day. This is for purely domestic consumption and the numbers will jump up susbstantially with tourist season.
With various major factors such as the tourist season and other small scale industries catering to the rising demand of poultry products in the state’s major market, the need for additional supply is a necessary and important requirement.
There are 25 traders doing business in poultry and eggs at Lall Bazaar.
As things stand, an additional 800 crates of eggs are required per week for Gangtok. The increase in supply shall guarantee that no inflation takes place and will also curb black-marketing to a huge extent.

Poultry consignment confiscated but situation remains unclear

GANGTOK, 01 Oct: The consignment of 294 cartons of eggs confiscated by the Sadar police on Saturday at the Lall Bazaar was supposedly to meet the demands of the public “…as there had been media reports of shortage of eggs”. This is the statement reportedly given to the police by way of explanation. A more simple way out would be to lift the ban on the import of poultry products into Sikkim. There were two utility vehicles which brought in eggs on 29 September and while one had already been unloaded, the police seized the other vehicle on grounds that unauthorized poultry import into the State was banned.
The consignment was with the police the whole day and only later released when the department produced the notification dating back to April 2010 permitting Sikkim Hatcheries and Denzong Cooperatives exclusively to import poultry products into the state. It was explained that the consignment belonged to Sikkim Hatcheries to meet the demand in Gangtok. The consignment was confiscated under section 102 of the CrPC.
The consignment was supposedly handed over to Ashok Tamang for distribution. Speaking to NOW!, Mr. Tamang clarified that he has not been accorded a ‘Special Permit’ by Sikkim Hatcheries to import eggs as initially reported and which again would be questionable.
“I am only a distributor, the eggs are not brought into Sikkim by me”, he stated. Mr. Tamang reiterates that he, along with a few others are only distributors and are selling the eggs at lower rates of Rs. 5 per piece than the Rs. 8 for the benefit of the people.
His statement that it was Sikkim Hatcheries that brought the eggs from Siliguri becomes relevant in the context of the directive of the Animal Husbandry department that poultry can be brought into Sikkim from only two designated poultry farms in Siliguri. Incidentally, this consignment was brought from the open market in Bidhan Market, Siliguri. In fact this consignment of poultry is not even from Siliguri as the cartons have the address of a poultry merchant in Velpur, Andhra Pradesh. This aspect should also be looked into by the department. The reason why only two agencies in Sikkim are permitted to bring in poultry into the state and not others is that they would purchase it from the designated farms in Siliguri. This was the logic of the department when it initially imposed the ban.
On the other hand, the very fact that such a consignment had to be brought in from Siliguri exposes the claim of self sufficiency in poultry products by the state. The daily demand for eggs for Gangtok town alone is over 200 crates [6,000 eggs] while the total produce of hatcheries in Sikkim would hardly come to 2,000 eggs.

Poultry ban conditions confound even more

GANGTOK, 26 Sept: Even as the ban on entry of poultry products into the State continues without any substantial reason, the nature of this ban imposed by the Animal Husbandry Department attracts attention as being prejudiced and discriminatory. This for the simple reason that, as per the notification of the department issued way back on 22 April, 2010, the ban is for everybody except two organizations.
As per this notification, no individual, cooperative society or business enterprise is allowed to bring in poultry or poultry products, including day old chicks, into Sikkim except two organizations. The two organizations exempted from the ban are Denzong Agriculture Cooperative Society and Sikkim Hatcheries. The illogicality is obvious and the discriminatory nature being alleged clear. In fact several small traders and those affected by this ‘ban’ also call it unconstitutional.
Small businessmen question how poultry products brought in by the two agencies are immune from bird flu, the reason why the ban was imposed, while those brought in by others infected. It is not simply a matter of designated poultry farms in Siliguri from where one can purchase the eggs or chicks as others too can be directed to get the products from these places.
The crux of the matter is that there is no bird flu at all!
This leaves the two agencies with a monopoly in the trade of poultry products in the state at the cost of other small and big traders. In this context it may also be asked of the authorities as to how this ban is beneficial or in the interest of the lay people of Sikkim?
As some of the traders ask: “It is not understood to our simple mind how the bird flu will enter the state if the poultry products are imported by traders and how it will not enter the state when it is imported by public sector undertakings such as Denzong cooperatives and the Sikkim Hatcheries?”
In another interesting and perplexing aspect of the ban, even dressed chicken is banned from being imported into the state. This ban is apparently on the very ill informed belief prevailing among the authorities that dressed chicken could be an agent to bring in bird flu. Firstly the country is bird flu free. Secondly dressed chicken cannot be a carrier of the virus simply because the virus is easily inactivated by heat, as experts on the subject inform, and by the same logic one also does not get the virus from thoroughly cooked chicken meat. In fact there are absolutely no reported cases of bird flu in humans after handling dressed chicken.
It will be in the interest of Sikkim, especially the poorer sections who have decided to take up poultry as a business option, that the authorities lift this ill informed ban and stopped playing into the hands of vested interests.

Poultry growers challenge insufficient supply claim, blame traders of ignoring local farmers

GANGTOK, 26 Sept: “It is very shocking to read the news about the shortage of poultry meat in Sikkim because of the unavailability of the poultry products in the local farms,” the All Sikkim Poultry Growers Association conveys in a press statement issued today in response to the demand of some traders the import ban on poultry products be lifted [read “Poultry ban, on for too long” NOW! issue dated 22 Sept 2012]. The group has also challenged the argument of a section of the traders that local entrepreneurs and farmers are not being able to meet the State’s demands.
In a counter, the association has contended that they are in fact facing “lot of problems in selling their products because of which they have to bear huge loss sometimes”.
They have claimed that the real problem “arises because of a handful of traders from Gangtok importing [smuggling] poultry products from Siliguri despite the ban” and ignoring the local suppliers.
The association has further questioned the Lall Bazar Traders Association (LBTA) on its contention that local farmers have failed to meet the demand of the local markets and hotels of Sikkim, contending instead that poultry is in surplus in the villages of Sikkim.
“Ideally, a chicken is ready to be sold within 40-45 days, but due to the unavailability of the market for their products they have to wait for 60-65 days which is not a good prospect for business. The local farmers are dealing with this problem for the past few months,” the All Sikkim Poultry Growers Association claims.
In Sikkim, a large number of people are into the poultry farming today. Some have started it with the help of State Government initiative “Poultry Mission” and some have started it own their own, the association informs, reiterating its “disapproval” of claims of insufficient local supply and urged the poultry traders to contact local farmers & entrepreneurs to meet the demand.

SHRA wants poultry ban lifted, Health License Fee scaled down

GANGTOK, 24 Sept: Sikkim Hotels & Restaurant Association [SHRA] has complained that the even though the hospitality and tourism sector provide the second largest scale of employment [after the State Government], the government “has not done enough to help the sector to greater heights and reduce dependence in seeking government jobs”. To underline this contention, the SHRA president, Bhanu Pratap Rasaily, in a press statement issued today, has highlighted the continuing ban on the entry of poultry and poultry products into Sikkim and the substantial hike, which SHRA sees as “unjustified”, in the Health License fee as instances which were hurting the hospitality sector in Sikkim.