Vellore: Pattali Makkal Katchi’s president, Mr G.K. Mani, has urged the Central government to revoke the hike in service tax as the increase in prices of all commodities would hurt people from all walks of life. The government’s decision to hike service tax rate to 14 per cent from the previous 12.36 per cent came into effect Monday.
He pointed out that the Central government should consider people involved in farming in decision-making related to agriculture. The country has about 60 per cent of people involved in farming, he said. “But, the proposal on land acquisition has been made without their consent and without planning to give compensation to them. This might lead to food shortage in the near future,” he added.
The Centre should come out with a white paper about income and situation of the farmers, and implement the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan committee, he said. Mr Mani sought the intervention of the Centre on the issue of sharing water from the Palar by the three states of TN, AP and Karnataka. For this, the government should immediately hold a meeting of the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to arrive at a decision.
The PMK has chalked out a plan to hold a mega state-level meeting on July 26, 2015, he said, and added that it would bring about an important change in state politics. Regarding the R.K. Nagar bypoll in TN, the party will neither contest nor support anybody, said Mr Mani who was in Vellore to participate in the party’s north zone leaders meeting on Monday. Former Union minister R. Velu was present on the occasion.
