TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: Bowing to pressure from panchayats, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday announced that the house tax of Re 1 would be restricted to only Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
Announcing a ban on sale and conversion of agriculture land, Parrikar said the government was working on a plan to introduce contract farming, which would help in bringing fallow land under cultivation. He said that government is also planning to introduce ‘Krushi Card’ for farmers, making the procedure for applying for various agricultural schemes more farmers-friendly.
While speaking during the Pre-Budget interactive session, organised by Institute Menezes Braganza, Parrikar said that except for mining, government has been successful in generating the revenue, as expected, from other sectors. He said that the commercial tax revenue has gone up by four percent compared to the financial year 2012-13.
Parrikar, who hold the Education portfolio, said that installation of CCTV cameras in schools and institutions would not help in solving the problem unless management and parents takes the initiative for safety of their children.
On the abolition of house tax, Parrikar said that the idea was not welcomed by some panchayats and hence government has decided to review it. “Now the tax of Re 1 would be restricted to only BPL families. Panchayats can now collect tax from others,” he said.
Claiming that government has managed to earn three to four percent growth in agriculture this year, Parrikar, who holds Agriculture portfolio, said ‘efforts need to be made to bring fallow land under cultivation for which we can think of adopting contract farming system’.
Pointing to ‘Krushi Card’, he said that initially the landlords would be registered and the card would be renewed every five year. “The card will have all documents of the farmer loaded in it. The facility would be later extended to tenants,” he added.
Chief Minister said that despite loss of mining revenue and reduction of VAT on petrol, the State managed to generate revenue as expected in other sectors such as tourism, excise, transport, etc. Parrikar said that mining closure has also affected diesel and petrol consumption in those areas. Together the drop is around 70 percent, he added.
Parrikar also targeted Central government for not providing all the funds as allocated. “This financial year, the Centre allocated around Rs 900 crore through shares and grants, however we received less than Rs 700 crore. In the first week of December, last year, I received a letter saying Rs 70 crore has been allocated by planning commission, but till date I have not received that money. There is a shortfall of around Rs 250 crore,” he said.
Chief Minister claimed to have implemented 65-70 percent of the promises made in Budget 2012-13 and in his party manifesto. “All schemes are on track. Before three years of power we would achieve more than 90 percent,” he said.
