The rice mill owners and paddy-rice dealers in the State have appealed to the Union Government to exempt rice from Goods and Service Tax.
This was one of the resolutions passed at a state-level meeting of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners and Paddy-Rice Dealers Associations held here on Tuesday.
Since Tamil Nadu is deficit in paddy production and rice is a major food in the State, the Government has not levied any tax on these so far.
Rice millers and farmers need additional power supply during the harvest season to dry the paddy and the low tension power supply available to these units is inadequate. The federation appealed to the State Government and to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission to pass the required orders for this.
The mills would pay the charges fixed by the commission for the additional supply.
The paddy dealers and mill owners also appealed to the State to remove the market cess levied on rice.
The State has 277 agricultural markets.
However, rice and paddy were procured by the dealers and mills directly from the farmers and also from States such as Karnataka, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, they pointed out.
