Maharashtra seeks tax holiday for Naxal-hit districts

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has made a special demand to the Union government to declare a five-year tax holiday in Naxal-affected districts. The state government has decided to start forest-based industries in these districts.

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Thursday met Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi and discussed the state’s demands in the union budget.

For the last two decades, four heavily forested districts of east Vidarbha i.e. Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Bhandara and Gondia have remained highly affected by Naxal activities. The state government has decided to generate employment in these districts by using forest resources and setting up forest-based industries.

To sustain such small-scale industry however, the region needs to be tax-free, at least for the initial years. In his meeting with Mr Jaitley on Thursday, Mr Mungantiwar submitted a plan of the Maha-rashtra government to the Union finance minister and requested that the region be declared tax-free in the upcoming budget.

In his memorandum to Mr Jaitley, Mr Mungantiwar also included other demands, one of them being allocation of a special fund of Rs 535 crore to complete various infrastructure projects in the Gadchiroli district. Mahatma Gandhi’s 10th birth anniversary will be celebrated in 2019 and in view of the fact that Gandhiji stayed in Sevagram in Wardha district of Vidarbha, the Maharashtra government has decided to develop the area as an important tourist destination, complete with social, cultural and other activities. A Rs 266 crore plan has been readied for the purpose. Mr Mungantiwar demanded that two-third of the project cost i.e. Rs 177 crore be contributed by the Centre.