Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has granted a major tax exemption to farmers in Amaravati, the capital region of Andhra Pradesh.
The farmers in the region gave 33,000 acres of land to the State government under the land pooling system for the construction of the new capital, Amaravati. However, capital gains tax remained a major worry for them and they represented repeatedly to the Union Finance Minister to exempt them from the tax. Finally, the demand was conceded in the Union Budget.
Shiv Kumar, Maple Software CEO and the Chairman of the AP Chapter of CII, said it was a welcome move and the farmers deserved it, as they had sacrificed their fertile lands for the construction of the new capital.
However, he said, there was much disappointment in Visakhapatnam and the north-coastal districts that the demand for a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters had not been conceded.
No major project was sanctioned specifically for the State in the Union Budget.
“It is extremely disappointing and both the NDA Government at the Centre and the TDP Government at the State level are making empty promises to the public like the special category status and the Visakhapatnam railway zone and passing time. They will have to pay a heavy political price,” said Ch Narasinga Rao, CPI(M) leader.