Minister hints at levy of fresh taxes

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, JUNE 9. The Finance Minister, Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, has said that the new Government will present a supplementary budget in the Assembly in the first week of July incorporating necessary changes in the budget passed by the previous LDF Government for the current financial year.

Speaking at a public reception accorded to him by the district committee of the United Democratic Front (UDF) at the Town Hall here today, the Minister said the supplementary budget would contain proposals to pay within six months the pending dues of Rs. 5,000 crores. It would also include schemes to overcome the present financial crisis without hurting the common man. He hinted at bringing fresh taxes in the budget. There is no other way to get out of the present crisis, he said.

The Minister said that the white paper on the financial situation of the State would be presented at the next Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. A sub-committee headed by him is giving final touches to the white paper, which would present the current state of affairs of public sector institutions such as the KSEB and the KSRTC.

He said the KSEB is now running at a loss of Rs. 124 crores every month, i.e, a daily loss of Rs. 4 crores. The KSRTC also runs in huge loss.

The Minister said that the public debt of the Government is more than Rs. 24,000 crores now. Despite this, the Government had paid Rs. 525 crores as salary for its employees on the first day of this month. Treasuries are clearing cheques below Rs. 10 lakhs issued by the Government earlier. The Government will clear all pending cheques. He expressed the hope that the entire dues of Rs. 4,867 crores could be cleared in a short period. The Asian Development Bank has agreed to give financial aid to the State which would help it come out of the present crisis.

He said the financial position of the State is such that it has not paid the Rs. 6 lakhs due to the Coffee House at the Secretariat which had supplied coffee to the offices of the Ministers during the last two years.

The pending dues to government contractors are to the tune of Rs. 1,100 crores, Rs. 24 crores to Plus Two teachers as salary, Rs. 26 crores as commission for small savings agents, Rs. 32 lakhs to those who won Kerala lottery prizes and pension to Government employees, their TA and DA. It is a pity that the CPI(M), which was responsible for the present financial mess of the State, comes out with demands to pay pending TA and DA to Government employees.

The Minister said that reports about allowing liquor shops in every panchayat have no basis and the Government has no plan to allot any new bars or liquor shops. It will, however, reconsider the decision of the previous Government to allow toddy trade to cooperative societies.

He said that Excise officials are directed to take stern measures to stop the brewing of illicit liquor and its trade. He asked them to free themselves of corruption and warned that any official collecting money would be dealt with sternly. ``We have not authorised any person or given `mukthiyar' to anyone to act on our behalf - either party functionaries or Government officials. We do not want to collect money by any means as the UDF Government wanted to be free of corruption,'' he said.

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