The Hindu : Kerala News : Tax exemption for farmers hit by drought

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Thursday, Apr 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Tax exemption for farmers hit by drought

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 7. Farmers in drought-hit areas of the State having up to two hectares of land will not have to pay land tax for one year, the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, has said.

He announced this decision at a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers here today.

Mr. Antony said the Cabinet also decided to get ready at the earliest a "package of assistance" to the farmers affected by the drought. The Cooperation Minister, M. V. Raghavan, and the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan, would be in charge of preparing this package.

Nationalised banks and cooperative societies had already announced a six-month moratorium on revenue recovery proceedings on loans taken by the farmers of drought-hit areas. But this would not address the entire problem, Mr. Antony said.

"What is in store for them after this six-month reprieve? How are they going to launch their next crop and from where will they get loans next? We have to do many things to remove the apprehensions of the farmers," Mr. Antony said. The Government would take into consideration all aspects of the problem while preparing the `package of assistance", he added.

He hoped that the Centre would provide more drought assistance to the State. "The Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, promised this when we met him during his visit to the State [last week]," he said.

Answering a question, Mr. Antony said the Taxes Secretary would conduct an inquiry into the controversies relating to the conduct of online lottery cases in the High Court by the Government advocates. "I have taken note of the media reports on the subject and have asked the Taxes Secretary to look into [the veracity of] the allegations," he said.

Referring to the change of the leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan that the Government was intentionally helping the online lottery companies to defraud the State and its people of large sums of money, Mr. Antony said: "If Mr. Achuthanandan gives me the details in writing, I am ready to order a probe. He usually sends me a lot of letters. Let him send one on this topic also."

Answering another question, Mr. Antony said the Government advocate, Ajith Prakash was terminated from service on the basis of a complaint that he had "misbehaved" with the Advocate-General (AG). "The AG had sent this complaint to the Chief Secretary. The matter was reported to the Cabinet by the Chief Secretary and a decision to remove him was taken," he said.

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