Limited options for meat eaters

It is all but obvious that the bird flu scare has certainly stirred apprehensions about grotesque impact on the consumption of chicken and as an off-shoot even partaking of eggs. It is rather ironic as the period coincides with the 45-day ritualistic fish ban and comes as a dampener for hardcore non-vegetarians.

The fish-ban is imposed every year for 45-days to rejuvenate the population of fish. But this year the ban will be in place for 61 days and will be lifted on June 14 that is six days after the famous fish medicine period is done and over with.The ban has meant that the price of sea food has soared, leaving meat-eaters to think twice about shelling out more than just a few hundreds to gorge on it.

“The rate of most of the varieties of fish has increased. For popular varities like mackerels, pomfrets and sharks, the increase is nearly Rs 200. A kilo of pomfret, which usually costs between Rs 600 and Rs 700, has touched Rs 900. Also the rate of prawns has seen an increase of Rs 100, and come in the price range of Rs 350 to Rs 400,” said Karthik, who works at a fish outlet in Neredmet.

“One kilo of chicken costs anything between Rs 100 and Rs 150. This is not expensive considering that the same amount of fish or mutton will be in a few hundreds. Till the bird flu scare dies down, non-vegetarians will have to choose between fish, mutton and beef,” said Laxman, a student and a self-professed ‘pure non-vegetarian’.

But the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) assures that despite the ban, there’s plenty of fish stock to last through the ban-period. “It is only the mechanised boats that are not being sent out to sea. The normal boats venture out and bring back fish. In any case, even if there is an increase in the demand for fish due to the bird flu outbreak, it can be met. There is no dearth of fish,” pointed out a spokesperson of NFDB.

In either case, the options for meat-eaters are limited this season even as chicken outlets are dreading the timing because holiday season spells boom for them.Interestingly, the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has stated that rather than an adverse impact on sale of eggs, there are now orders pouring in from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

“The reason is that both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which are known as the egg-basket of India, always offer competitive egg prices. Compared to what other cities in India are offering, egg prices prevailing in Hyderabad are at rock-bottom at Rs 232 100 eggs as against Rs 248 prevailing at the same time last year in 2014,” explained Sanjeev Chintawar, business manager, NECC, Hyderabad.

By E Sai Kishore