Tax relief to Kashmir files: Ajit Pawar puts ball in Centre’s court saying if PM Modi announces it will be applicable to entire country

Shiv Sena led Maha Vikas Aghadi government will not provide tax relief to The Kashmir Files amid demand from ruling and opposition legislators. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday has turned down the tax relief demand and passed the ball in the Centre's court saying if the Centre gives tax relief it will be applicable in all states too. He was replying to a debate on the annual budget for 2022-23 in the state assembly.

Pawar reminded that the 'Mission Mangal', 'Tanaji' and 'Panipat' were earlier given tax relief in the state. ‘’Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a special mention about the Kashmir Files. If the decision is taken, it will apply to the entire country, even from Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari the film will be tax-free,’’ he said. The BJP staged a walkout as they wanted to make their point but later came back to the house while Pawar was concluding his reply.

The BJP-ruled states of Goa, MP, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat have already made this film tax-free.

Further, in a bid to keep the legislators from the ruling and opposition parties in good humour, Pawar also announced a hike in the legislators’ development fund to Rs 5 crore from Rs 4 crore. His announcement was welcomed amid slogan shouting and thumping of benches by the ruling and opposition parties.

Pawar strongly denied the opposition’s allegations of neglecting the underdeveloped Vidarbha and Marathwada in the fund allocation, especially after the winding up of the separate statutory development boards for these two regions. ‘’The government has allocated 26.04% funds from the annual plan for removal of the development backlog in Vidarbha against 23.03% as per the Governor’s fund allocation formula. This means the government has allocated 3% more which comes to additional Rs 2,000 crore to the Vidarbha region,’’ he said.

In the case of Marathwada, the allocation is 18.66% against 18.75% as per the Governor’s formula, which is hardly 0.11% less, said Pawar. As far as the allocation of funds for the rest of Maharashtra is concerned, he added that 55.29% of funds have been allocated against 58.23% as per the Governor’s formula. ‘’The Maha Vikas Aghadi government is committed to an overall development of the state and it was not its culture to neglect any particular region,’’ he noted.

Pawar also strongly rebutted the opposition’s allegations that there was jugglery in budget numbers saying that their charges were not based on the fact. He said the revenue deficit will be less than 3% of the Gross State Domestic Product which is within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management framework.

Pawar defended the Panchsutri of development proposed in the budget saying that the government was resolved for its implementation to make Maharashtra the first state in the country with a $1 trillion economy. ‘’Panchsutri became popular in rural areas which are quite rare. Inclusiveness of budget is talked about by a common man,’’ he opined.

Published on: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 06:14 PM IST