Chicken Biriyani. Photo: Arone G KoduvathThiruvananthapuram: Keralites are set to miss their daily quota of chicken from Monday, after the talks held between finance minister Thomas Isaac and traders failed to reach a consensus over reducing poultry prices post-Goods and Service Tax (GST).
Citing nil tax for chicken under the GST, the state government has been insisting on fixing the prices at Rs 87 per kg, and threatened legal action against defaulters.
During the meeting on Sunday, the members of the All Kerala Poultry Federation said that they are ready to reduce the chicken rate but would not slash it to the level stipulated by the government.
"Today, the rate of one kilo of chicken is Rs 130. We are ready to sell it at a reduced rate of Rs 100. But it is not possible to sell at Rs 87," traders said during the meet, which lasted all of five minutes.
Unperturbed by the call for stir, the minister said the traders cannot sell chicken at their own rates. "People should get the benefit of Goods and Service Tax," he added.
He reiterated that broiler chicken has to be sold at Rs 87 as a 14.5 percent Value-Added Tax has been removed. He accused theater owners of trying to reap profits using GST as a pretext.
Alleging that certain sections were involved in increasing the prices, he said the work of Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation (Kepco) will be widened to counter the mafia. The government would protect the chicken farmers, he added.
The traders have rejected the government's directive to lower prices as not acceptable and are demanding Rs 100 per kg, saying they were getting the poultry products from neighboring Tamil Nadu at a higher rate.
Why Rs 87/kg?
"We do not know how the minister has arrived at the price of Rs 87. That is the farmers' price. Transport charges, salaries of workers, have also to be added," association president M. Tajuddeen said.
General secretary of the association S.K. Naseer said: 'Our aim is not to challenge the government. This is a life and death issue. We cannot accept the government demand to bring down the price to Rs 87, which will be very uneconomical', he claimed.
According to the association, chicken prices had gone up due to drought much before the GST implementation. The poultry prices are said to have been jacked up by 40 percent just before the GST rollout.
(With inputs from PTI)
Read more: Latest on GST | Education not expensive under GST: Center
