A group of investors who spent lakhs of rupees on buying and nurturing emus hoping to earn handsome profits returned the birds for free to the supplier in Dehradun on Thursday.
They had requested the Forest Department to place the birds in a zoo as the birds were proving to be expensive to maintain and were not providing the profits claimed by the supplier.
However, the department clarified that the birds were not its responsibility as they came under the purview of the Animal Husbandary
department. Investors Subodh Raturi, Yogendra Thapliyal, Sonu and Dinesh Panwar from Bhaniyawala reached an emu farm off Haridwar Bypass Road and alleged that the emu supplier Polygon Agro Products had not provided any help or advice when the investors were facing problems.
Raturi said, “We spent more than Rs eight lakh on purchasing 34 emus as we were told that its feathers sold for Rs 400 per kg, its skin (8-12 feet) sold for Rs 16,000 and 4-6 kg of emu oil sold for Rs 24,000 apart from the eggs an meat which also fetched a handsome price.
However, the birds failed to lay eggs and we found that the market for emu products was not as claimed. We tried to contact the supplier but received no advice and later he stopped answering our phone calls.
We were spending Rs 300 per day on feeding one bird and two birds died soon. We approached the Forest Department requesting it to keep the birds in a zoo for the public to view and learn.
The department rejected our request so we came here to the farm to return the birds free of cost because we see no profit in this enterprise,” he said while adding that three birds had died in the truck while they were waiting for the farm to be opened and the owner to accept the birds back.
Representing the supplier, BP Nainwal maintained that emu farming is a profitable enterprise if it is done in the proper manner. “If the bird doesn’t lay egg this year, it will lay eggs in the next season,” he said. Stressing that he was not in the business of duping investors, he cited the example of a farmer in Haldwani whose emus had laid eggs.
However, when asked for the phone number of the farmer, he failed to provide it. Counsel for the suppliers, BS Bisht said that the birds would be taken back and kept at the farm.Earlier, when the farm caretaker refused to allow entry to the emu owners, the police was called and they were allowed to enter though the birds were kept waiting in the truck. Heated discussions and negotiations resulted in the supplier agreeing to take the birds back.
Meanwhile, another investor Gautam Kumar of Bhaniyawala also reached the farm to talk to the supplier to take his 10 emu pairs back at half rate because the venture was not proving to be as profitable as claimed. His proposition was rejected by the supplier.
The three birds which died on Thursday were taken for post mortem which was conducted by a panel of three veterinarians on the direction on the Dehradun chief veterinary officer.