The Kerala government is looking forward to imposition of a 10% cess on State GST and rise in its borrowing limit from the present 3% to 4.5% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to raise sufficient resources for the post-floods reconstruction challenges that Kerala faces.
A special meeting of the State Cabinet on Tuesday decided to request the GST Council to permit it to impose a 10% cess on State GST and approach the Central government to get its borrowing limit raised.
The State hopes to mop up around ₹10,500 crore from the open market by raising the borrowing limit.
The State would also launch a special lottery scheme to raise funds for the reconstruction challenges, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters.
Mr. Vijayan said the State government would request the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to implement long-term schemes for reconstruction of rain-battered infrastructure and revival of the agriculture and irrigation projects. The State should get special Centrally sponsored schemes to tide over the crisis. The Centre would also be urged to create a special ₹2,600-crore package under MGNREGS.
The Chief Minister said the Cabinet had decided to convene a special session of the State Assembly on August 30 to discuss the reconstruction work was to be taken up.
The State wished to submit before the Centre a comprehensive rehabilitation proposal. The idea was not to restore the flood-hit areas to their former condition, but to create a new Kerala, he said.
Moratorium on loans
A moratorium on repayment of loans in the flood-hit areas was already in place and this was applicable to both commercial banks and cooperative banks. However, some non-banking finance institutions were not adhering to this and the government had received reports that representatives of such institutions had even gone to relief camps to force people to repay their loans.
They should desist from such activities and provide a healing touch to the flood-hit, Mr. Vijayan said.
