Gujarat seeks a `5-year tax holiday' for Kutch

Gujarat seeks a `5-year tax holiday' for Kutch
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

GANDHINAGAR, FEB 24: Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has urged the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha for a five year tax holiday for the worst quake-hit Kutch district.

In a letter to Sinha, Patel said, a comprehensive rehabilitation and reconstruction package for people and units, who suffered untold miseries and damage in the recent earthquake is in the process of implementation, a release said here today.

In such a critical situation, the Centre should take a sympathetic view towards the worst-hit Kutch district and exempt from payment of duties and all taxes, Patel said adding, the exemption of Central Excise Duty on cement should be extended for another year after its expiry on July 31 this year, the release added.

Earlier, the state industry Minister Suresh Mehta had also demanded similar exemption for Kutch in a meeting with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj who visited Kutch on February 9.