In a big relief to around 22,000 farmers who had given their farm lands for capital city of Amaravati, Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, while presenting Union Budget 2017, has announced exemption of capital gains tax for them.
This measure is likely to a big benefit for farmers to the tune of around Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh each, depending on the commercial value of their plots measuring 1,000 sq yards per acre they had given for the capital city, under the land pooling scheme (LPS). The Government has pooled 33,000 acres under this scheme.
Farmers are also happy as the Finance Minister announced that the capital gains tax holding period would be reduced from three years to two years.
Reacting to it, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. S. Chowdary said: “I offer my special thanks to Finance Minister on behalf of farmers of AP. I feel the capital gains tax exemption for those who pooled their land to build our new capital Amaravati is a great recognition of their spirit and a worthy reward. It shows how significant AP is to the Central government.”
It may be recalled that Tadikonda (local) MLA T Sravan Kumar and Guntur MP Galla Jayadev reminded the Union Finance Minister on the need to announce tax exemption when he was in Amaravati recently. Mr. Jaitley had laid a foundation stone for Andhra Pradesh (AP) State Administrative Complex at Rayapudi village in Thullur mandal of Guntur district forming part of the new capital.
“I can only assure you that as soon as I reach Delhi I will have it sympathetically considered. And an early decision will be taken in this matter,” was Mr. Jaitley’s reaction when Mr. Jaidev and others brought the issue to his notice.
The State government has been asking the Centre to consider the farmers of Amaravati as a special case as they had voluntarily come forward to part with their agriculture land for construction of the capital city. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu dashed off letters to Mr. Jaitley. Farmers' delegations too met Mr. Jaitley in Delhi and submitted representations.
