Bengaluru: Taking a dig at former chief ministers, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and H.D. Kumaraswamy, who criticised the government headed by Siddaramaiah for not demonstrating financial discipline, senior Congress legislator, Basavaraj Rayareddy, said the state stood first in financial discipline.
He told the media here on Wednesday that all BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat, were suffering known for financial indiscipline and were heading towards a debt trap. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had stumbled in maintaining financial discipline and the Union Government could not meet the target set for revenue mobilization, falling short by seven per cent.
He said in 2015-16, the state raised a loan of Rs 24,000 crores, while Gujarat had raised Rs 30,000 crores. While neighbouring Tamil Nadu has raised loans of over Rs 25,000 crores, Maharashtra had raised Rs 32,000 crores as loans. Any state should not exceed its borrowing limit more than 25 per cent of its economy. Karnataka stands at 24.57 per cent.
As per a report of RBI, the highest outstanding loans are of Gujarat at 23.3 per cent, Madhya Pradesh, 25.8 per cent, Rajasthan 25.8 per cent, Goa 28.1 per cent, Jharkhand 23.6 per cent, while Karnataka’s figure was only 22.4 per cent, he added.
State government exempts beds in ICUs from luxury tax after public outcry
Following public outcry, the state government today exempted eight per cent luxury tax imposed on each bed in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in hospitals.
“We have exempted beds in hospital ICUs from the eight per cent luxury tax. The government had issued a directive in this regard to all hospitals in the city. This directive stands cancelled,” CM Siddaramaiah said.
The decision comes after the medical fraternity raised a hue and cry arguing that the tax will add burden on the patients, who get admitted in the ICUs of private hospitals for critical care services and not on account of luxuries.
The Commercial Tax Commissioner had six months ago issued the order bringing ICU beds under the luxury tax net, but it was put into effect a few days ago, triggering protests.
