The government has no plans to waive the sales tax on petrol and diesel to arrest inflation, Finance and Public Works Minister T.M. Thomas Issac has said.
Replying to questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Dr. Isaac said the State government got Rs.2,451.53 crore as tax from the sale of petrol and diesel during last financial year. The government was levying 29.01 per cent tax on petrol and 24.69 per cent on diesel. This was in addition to the one per cent cess.
During 2009-10, oil companies remitted Rs.2,903.20 crore as tax to the State government. This was 9 per cent more than the tax paid by the companies in 2008-09. The Kerala State Beverages Corporation remitted Rs.2,984.90 crore during the period. This was 19 per cent more than the tax remitted in the previous year.
Dr. Isaac said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan would convene an all-party meeting to evolve a consensus on the width of National Highways in the State. An economic and technological audit would be conducted before finalising the alignment so that displacement of people could be reduced to the minimum while developing highways.
Dr. Isaac said an integrated transport development policy would be framed by year-end.
Road development
A city road development programme like the Capital Road Improvement Programme (CRIP) would be implemented in Kochi. The government would consider a proposal to form a high-level coordination committee for monitoring the road works in Kochi. Tenders for the second phase of the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) would be floated in November. Steps were being taken for introducing e-tendering in the Public Works Department, Dr. Isaac said.
Mr. Achuthanandan said the government had taken steps to prevent illegal recruitment of women to foreign countries to work as housemaids. An eight-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) as chairman had been formed for framing the guidelines to take action in such cases. The Superintendent of Police (NRI Cell) was the nodal officer.
