Tax on palm trees cancelled: Padma Rao

Toddy has ₹5,000 cr revenue potential

State Excise Minister K. Padma Rao said tax on palmyra trees was being cancelled with effect from Friday. The Government Order would be issued shortly, he said.

Participating in a meeting held after laying the foundation stone for Gouda Sankshema Bhavan at the district headquarters here along with Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao on Friday, Mr. Padma Rao said that so far about 10,000 climbing machines had been supplied to toddy-tappers in the State and the programme would continue.

European market

“Neera drink, also called palm nectar, has good demand in the European market and it was expected that Telangana would get about ₹5,000 crore revenue from toddy-tapping,” he said.

Mr. Harish Rao said that using drip irrigation system, palm trees were developed as a pilot project at Antargam village in Jagityal district.