Accusing the Oommen Chandy Government of "resorting to undemocratic" means to raise additional resources, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the present crisis was the result of the gross mismanagement of public finances by the UDF ministry.
Vijayan also hit out at the government for taking the "ordinance route" to raise a huge amount without presenting and debating the proposals in the assembly.
By doing this, the government had misused a provision to be used in emergency situations like war or famine, he said.
He said the measures announced by the Chief Minister yesterday would cast an additional burden of over Rs 4000 crore on the people. Added to this, the proposals under consideration, this would cross Rs 7000 crores. This was for the first time that such a huge tax burden being cast on the public outside the annual budget, he said.
Faced with a grim funds crunch arising mainly from its policy of sharply cutting down on the liquor business, the Government had steeply increased taxes on liquor, cigarettes, water charges and fees for various services to mop up about Rs 2000 crore.