Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Sales tax cess will be inflationary: UDF

Oommen Chandy says there are no measures for market intervention.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition UDF on Thursday criticised Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac for imposing 1 per cent cess on sales tax to fund social security schemes and warned that the measure would prove to be inflationary at a time when the State was facing an unprecedented rise in the prices of essential commodities.

Addressing a joint press conference here, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy; Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani; Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader C.T. Ahmedali; Kerala Congress (B) leader K.B. Ganesh Kumar; and Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS) leader K.K. Shaju said the budget did contain any concrete measures by way of allocation for market intervention operations to curb the price spiral.

Mr. Chandy said the UDF would oppose the 1 per cent cess as it would have an effect on the prices. Besides, the Finance Minister had failed to make any allocation for market intervention to curb prices. Terming the budget “illusionary,” Mr. Chandy said the Finance Minister had finally come around to accepting several pro-poor schemes launched by the UDF government. He said the latest figures on Plan expenditure exposed inept financial management. The Finance Minister had sacrificed development for the sake of clearing arrears.

The agriculture and industrial sectors had not received any deserving attention, with the Minister failing to supplement his schemes with budgetary funds, he said.

Mr. Mani said the Finance Minister had juggled his budgetary figures to conceal financial efficiency and administrative failures. The Left parties had criticised the Union Budget’s farm waiver scheme for failing to include advances taken from money lenders. Dr. Isaac should have at least made some provision for loans taken by farmers from money lenders.

Mr. Ahmedali termed the budget “disappointing,” as it did not have any substantial allocation to tackle price rise and the crisis in the agriculture sector.

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