By IANS,
Agartala : The Tripura assembly Thursday urged the central government to give subsidy on cooking gas for the eight northeastern states.
“Considering the weak financial position and limited revenue support, the union government should not impose any additional burden and instead give special subsidy on cooking gas for the northeast states,” said Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
“Tripura is the first state among the northeastern states to have reduced sales tax on petrol and diesel. But we are unable to cut the tax on cooking gas as the state is getting only four percent sales tax from LPG,” Sarkar told the house.
A resolution seeking concessions from the central government, adopted unanimously, was moved by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator Sudhan Das. It was supported by the opposition Congress lawmakers in the assembly, whose three-week long budget session is now on.
Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury told the opposition members that no state in the country has reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on cooking gas and only a few states announced to give subsidy on LPG.