Confederation of Nagaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCCI) has proposed to the State government to keep on hold the salary of class I category officials and above up to chief minister by 25% to 30% for the next six months and utilise the amount for tackling COVID-19 pandemic.
Pointing out that Meghalaya had already done the same, the confederation said the government should continue with the move till such time business picked up in the State and revenues realised from GST/SGST and other taxes.
Urging the government to bring in strong austerity measures to tide over the current poor fiscal health without burdening the common man, the confederation observed that a large chunk of the State’s income and revenue was being spent on payment of salary. Further, CNCCI suggested that all substandard, non-functional and expired COVID-19-related materials that were purchased be immediately returned and the money realised be used judiciously. The government should know that a resource crunch-State did not have the luxury of wastage of resource and burden the common man, a release issued by the organisation underlined.
The trade body’s suggestion came in response to the government’s justification of levying COVID-19 cess on petroleum products.
In a release, CNCCI stated that it was aghast at the State government’s response to demands for rollback of the cess across the State. And by trying to justify the move with some flimsy explanation, the confederation said the government had only laid bare its apathy towards public misery, which could be concluded as anti-public.
Out of more than 20 lakh people, the State government employed just about two lakh or 10%, while the remaining 90% people was dependent on farming, business and other economic activities. Therefore it was a simple logic that unless the government gave up its role as a welfare state, it should not have a second thought to rollback the cess immediately, the release emphasised.
Following CNCCI’s representation to the government of April 30 demanding rollback of the COVID-19 cess on petroleum products on the ground that this would affect the business community, additional chief secretary and finance commissioner Sentiyanger Imchen came out with a justification the following day that the cess would augment State’s resources by generating an additional revenue of Rs 55.58 crore annually.
He had also asserted that imposition of the cess would not lead to hike in prices of essential commodities.
Reacting to this, CNCCI claimed that hike in fuel prices as a result of the cess would lead to price hike as essential goods were transported by goods carriage. It also reiterated its demand for rollback of the cess.
Condemning the statement, the trade body said this proved that the government had no heart for the common man’s misery, besides showing its true colours. It also wondered how the government could even in its wildest imagination contemplate such a proposition to extract the last penny from the common man.