BANGALORE: Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa plans to lead a delegation to New Delhi to urge the Centre to reduce the sales tax on petrol and diesel.

He told Basavaraj Bommai (Janata Dal-United) in the Legislative Council on Wednesday that though five per cent entry tax levied in the State was the highest in the country, it had been introduced in place of octroi, which was withdrawn, to make up for the loss of revenue.

When Mr. Bommai said entry tax could not be levied now that the State had adopted VAT (value-added tax), Mr. Yediyurappa conceded that prices of fuel in the State could come down considerably (if the Centre reduced sales tax), and he was willing to accept the views of the members on the issue.

Mr. Bommai suggested that entry tax be withdrawn, and the loss made up by increasing sales tax by two or three per cent, which would bring relief to the people and help contain loss of revenue.

In 2005-06, 73,9341.5 kilolitres of petrol and 27,94,836 kilolitre of diesel was sold in the State, and the tax revenue was Rs. 2,566 crore.

The Government had written to the Centre seeking relaxation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification and reduction in the high-tide line from 500 m to 200 m, to facilitate construction of houses for fishermen and optimise the use of coastline, Forests and Ecology Minister C. Chennigappa told the House.

He told Prabhakar B. Kore (Congress) during Question Hour that relaxation of rules was necessary to facilitate issue of title deeds to fishermen in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts, Mr. Chennigappa said.

Reminder

The Government wrote to the Centre in May 2005, and sent a reminder a week ago, he said, and added that a meeting of the Chief Secretary and other officials was expected to take stock of the situation soon.

Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar told Motamma (Congress) that damage to property caused by rain last year was estimated at Rs. 170 crore. In 2005-06, Rs. 14 crore was released for relief works. Mr. Shettar said most of the funds had been utilised for providing compensation and relief to victims, and could not be diverted for other programmes.

A sum of Rs. 50.03 lakhs was the balance, which district officials would use to provide immediate relief for people in rain-affected areas.

D.M. Putte Gowda (Congress) said MLAs should be involved in relief programmes.

Ms. Motamma said she was not satisfied with the response, and demanded more funds for providing relief.

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