Lucknow, Jun 19 (IANS): Egg traders in Uttar Pradesh are up in arms over the animal husbandry department's new rule which says eggs must be transported only in refrigerated (cold) vehicles.

Egg traders claim that this will lead to an increase in prices and also cause a shortage of egg supply if the government did not rescind the rule.

A meeting of egg traders from across the state was organised here on Sunday in which traders from 25 districts participated.

State president of Uttar Pradesh Adarsh Vyapar Mandal Sanjay Gupta and president of UP Egg Traders' Association Mohammed Yameen expressed their concern over the new rule.

Mohammed Yameen said, "Due to the implementation of this rule only in UP, there is a lot of inconvenience in doing business with other states."

He said, "If the rule is implemented, then the rates of eggs are going to double and triple and eggs will go out of the reach of poor residents."

General secretary, UP Egg Traders' Association Chandra Shekhar said that due to the new rule, traders were facing a lot of inconvenience and there were difficulties in getting eggs from other states because there was no such rule in other states.

This may lead to a shortage of eggs in the state.