In a significant people-friendly measure, Congress-led UDF government in Kerala today decided to give house tax exemption for buildings up to 660 sq feet.

Talking to reporters after a cabinet meeting here, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said it was also decided to waive the hike in tax rate on buildings up to 2,000 sq feet.

“It will come into effect from this year,” Chandy added.

The decision was taken after ruling UDF recommended to the government to rectify anomalies in the new house tax structure announced recently. The cabinet unanimously accepted the suggestion placed by the UDF.

Chandy said the cabinet approved the ‘Light Metro’ for cities of Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.

It was also decided to sanction Rs 850 crore for road widening purposes connected with the Light Metro works in two cities.

The Cabinet decided to permit district collectors to purchase private lands on negotiated basis for development purposes till rules were framed under the new Land Acquisition Bill of the Centre, he said.

It was to speed up land acquisition for works that came to standstill due to issues related to purchase of land.

Kannur Airport Authority was allowed to directly purchase 11.44 acres of land for the construction of runway for the Kannur Airport. The sanction was given in the wake of urgency in completing the runway work.

comment COMMENT NOW