State seeks Rs 10k cr central aid

The State government has urged the Centre to allocate `10,000 crore in the 2018-19 Union Budget for Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).Finance minister E Rajender demanded that the performing States too should be provided the required support from the Centre. At a meeting with Finance Ministers of all the States held by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi on Thursday, a pre-budget exercise, Rajender said that Telangana was performing well and it should be encouraged. The disincentivise policy of performing states should not be continued, Rajender demanded. He also suggested Jaitley that the Union Budget should focus on providing employment to youth, setting up of small and medium enterprises and also encouraging the agriculture sector. Rajender explained the flagship programmes of Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya during the meeting. He recalled that Niti Aayog recommended `19,200 crore financial assistance to Mission Bhagiratha and another `5,000 crore to Mission Kakatiya. Apart from allocations for the Kaleshwaram project, Rajender also requested the Centre to allocate funds in the Union Budget for rail coach factory and Girijan university. He also reiterated their demand to see that sufficient cash flows were available when the Sate implemented the investment support scheme to farmers. GST Council meet In the GST council meeting, Rajender demanded that the tax on Beedis should be reduced on a par with cigarettes. But, the fitment committee did not agree for this. However, the meeting agreed to reduce the tax on drip irrigation implements from the current 18 per cent to 12 per cent, Rajender told reporters later in Delhi. The GST council meeting also discussed the implementation of the e-Way bill system to check tax evasion. Rajender said that while implementing the GST, the human interface was not reduced and the tax bracket was not expanded despite the reduction of rates on several goods and this should be analysed properly.Rajender said that the next GST Council meeting would discuss on amending certain clauses of the GST Act. He said that there was no discussion on petrol, diesel or real estate sectors in Thursday’s GST Council meeting.