The Malwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the Madhya Pradesh government to keep in abeyance implementation of the value-added tax system in the state and asked it to start talks with traders to sort out problems linked to the proposed system.
Chamber president Pritamlal Dua in a statement here said the Union Budget had projected the value-added tax as historic reform system but the basic concept of it was not visible in the Ordinance passed by the state government.
The high-power committee of states, constituted by Centre, had made VAT a means to increase revenue, he said.
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But the Digvijay Singh government's claim that after implementation of the value-added tax the state's revenue would come down was baseless.
He said the state government by making the provision of 30 days imprisonment in the present VAT Ordinance, to be effective from April 1, had tried to humiliate traders.
Meanwhile, cautioning that the state would face power cuts, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh said the government was finding it tough to purchase electricity from other places during the peak hours.
Answering questions during the chief minister's question hour in the Assembly yesterday, the chief minister said there was difficulty in purchasing power during the peak hour, between 6 pm and 10 pm, because of the power shortage all over the country.
Different areas would experience power cuts on different days of the week because of the shortage, he added.
Rs 8 crore for MP
The rural development ministry has released Rs 7.94 crore central assistance to Madhya Pradesh for watershed projects and implementation of the drought-prone areas programme in 14 districts during 2002-2003.
The state government will have to release its share for the programme within 15 days from the date of release of the central share, says a ministry release in New Delhi on Monday.
The development of wasteland and degraded lands under the programme is expected to promote employment generation and increase the participation of people leading to sustainable development of land and sharing of the benefits, the release adds.