Nirmala Sitharaman meets intellectuals, businessmen, industrialists in Kalaburagi

Traders and industrialists from Kalaburagi put forward several demands, most of which were related to taxes, before the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during their interaction with her here on Wednesday. The Minister, however, made no promises on any of them saying that she cannot take immediate decisions on such vital issues.

Traders and industrialists from Kalaburagi put forward several demands, most of which were related to taxes, before the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during their interaction with her here on Wednesday. The Minister, however, made no promises on any of them saying that she cannot take immediate decisions on such vital issues.

The interaction was part of her one-day poll campaign in the district.

Nearly 300 intellectuals and members of business community gathered with hopes of getting their grievances heard by the Minister. There were around 70 questions and demands for the consideration of the Minister. However, the Minister could take only a few of them owing to paucity of time.

Some industrialists engaged in the dal processing industry told the Minister that 250 of the around 350 dal mills in the district have closed down because of irrational taxes imposed on them, apart from the other reasons.

They told her that dal mills are agro-based industry and demanded that the government reduce taxes to 4% so that it will be beneficial to both the dal mill owners and red gram growers. The Minister, however, did not say anything specific about the demand.

Some of the traders who were engaged in the business of agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides demanded tax waiver for fertilizers, micro-nutrients and pesticides, if possible, or reduction in tax to 4% from 12% and 18%. The Minister did not assure them of anything.

“The Minister was about two hours behind schedule as her flight was delayed. Since she had to go to other scheduled programmes, she did not take up all the questions and demands. She was in a hurry and finished the interaction programme early,” a dal mill owner who was present in the interaction told The Hindu.