Scores of organisations including NPF, NPCC and trade bodies have demanded immediate rollback of COVID-19 cess levied by the state government on diesel, petrol and motor spirit in the state. This makes Nagaland the first state in India to levy extraordinary tax on taxed amount on petroleum products.
NPCC: Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) Thursday demanded immediate rollback of COVID-19 cess on petrol and diesel, saying that such imposition was “not acceptable in the present circumstances” as that would result in price rise of commodities.
In a press release, NPCC president K Therie said that at a time when people have lost business and jobs, development activities halted, industries closed and farming activities affected imposing of extra tax was nothing but adding salt to injury.
Reminding that Rs. 21,049 crore budget passed was available with the state government, the NPCC president said the state government, in addition, had received State Disaster Response Management Funds and also Prime Minister CARES fund. “We have also seen NEC has released grants while the Centre is supplying PPE materials,” Therie said. Instead of raising cess to increase prices, NPCC said the state government should concentrate on restructuring the state’s economy to stimulate economic growth and check price rise.
NPF: NPF said it was confounded by the decision of the PDA government of Nagaland to levy exorbitant “COVID-19 cess” rates of Rs.5 per litre on diesel and Rs.6 per litre on petrol and other motor spirits. NPF Press Bureau said these have added “extra ordinary burden” on people at a time when they, particularly the daily wage earners in urban and rural areas were “increasingly dependent” upon relief and charity for their daily subsistence.
NPF through its Press Bureau explained that a cess is “tax on tax, an amount payable on tax amount” or an added tax, charged by dealers from consumers. Therefore, NPF said the “COVID-19 cess” directly leads to increase in prices of essential commodities and which has become a burden on the Naga public. It termed the “COVID-19 cess” as “insulting” when the public are aware that international oil prices have been at an all-time decline of around 300% since 1991.
NPF therefore, demanded that the COVID-19 cess be immediately rolled back otherwise it would be nothing short of being like daylight robbery. NPF opined that the PDA government was actually trying to desperately recover the “little pinch of free ration” given to a few daily wage earners through the COVID-19 cess.
The opposition said Naga public will not be taken for a ride by technical explanations and abstract rhetoric to justify the cess by citing preparatory cost incurred due to the pandemic. It said the preparatory period was over as sufficient money has been poured into the state’s coffer for COVID-19. NPF said if Nagaland was still not prepared then no amount of money will be sufficient. NPF also said every citizen in the state was feeling the pinch from the over one month lockdown and so it was time for the state government to formulate and implement policies to relieve public with subsidy on essential goods for the unemployed, the private sector employees and daily wage earners instead of “merely feeding a few of them for a few days since many were dependent on charity from NGOs, churches and other benefactors”.
It also urged upon the PDA government to check price rise for the sake of the poor but instead of paying attention to their please, the government instead turned a deaf ear as a result of which prices of every essential commodity has shot up sky high. NPF said people never expected their government to exhibit a “callous, merciless, heartless attitude” when they were suffering not only due to COVID-19 but also for their daily subsistence.
NPF concluded that the longer the present government was in power, the more the common people will suffer.
BAN: Business Association of Nagas (BAN) has also appealed to chief minister Neiphiu Rio to roll back COVID-19 cess levied on petroleum products immediately.
Expressing its concern at the State government levying a cess of Rs 6 and Rs 5 on per litre of petrol and diesel respectively, BAN said it came to know through national media that Nagaland was the only State to levy such a cess.
The announcement came as a shock as the entire world was witnessing a reduction in international price of crude oil and everyone was expecting a reciprocal reduction in prices of fuel, it added.
Mentioning that it did not require rocket science technology to foresee the negative impact the cess would have on the State’s economy, BAN warned that the unprecedented measure would have a cascading impact on all walks of life, primarily on the economic enterprises of the State.
Moreover, with the consequent increase in freight charges as also the agricultural production cost, it feared that livelihoods of citizens, particularly the rural masses, would be affected.
BAN said it expected the government to act responsibly, taking into account the predicament of the business community at large.
Being a responsible business association and having the mandate of all local businesspersons of the State, BAN said it was well aware of the financial stress of the State government due to the threat of COVID-19 and the subsequent lightning lockdown. With this in mind, BAN said it had approached the chief minister for a virtual dialogue with participation all stakeholders with the intention of providing constructive inputs to salvage the State from the tragedy.
However, it regretted of not yet having received any acknowledgement of receipt on its request, let alone any opportunity to interact with Rio and the government machinery.
CNCCI: Confederation of Nagaland Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CNCCI) has urged the State government to review its decision for imposing the COVID-19 cess.
In a representation to chief minister Neiphiu Rio by its chairman Dr. Khekugha Muru and general secretary Dr. Seyievilie Mor, CNCCI stated that while it understood the urgency of the State government to generate revenue to sustain the fight against COVID-19, the cess should be cut down by at least 75% or rolled back completely.
Pointing out that prices of many essential commodities across the country had shot up at the source due to lockdown and that business community and consumers were bearing the brunt, CNCCI feared that such decision to impose high cess on fuel would further jack up prices of essential items further as transportation cost would increase and also have a negative impact on the State’s economy.
CNCCI stated that the business community, churches, NGOs and citizens had come forward to assist the government in its fight against COVID-19 even as the business community and consumers were hard hit due to the lockdown stretching from March to May. Under the circumstances, the trade body suggested that the benefit of global petroleum price slump should be passed on to the consumers to provide them some relief and respite.
CNCCI also stated that the business community would require huge support from the state government so that the state’s economy was back on track for the government to earn revenue from GST/SGST.
It, therefore, strongly suggested that in the interest of the State economy to bounce back to normalcy at the earliest the government should roll back the cess as it could have far-reaching consequences on the economy.
MCCI: Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce and Industry(MCCI) in a statement issued by its president Tsukti Longkumer and general secretary Limalenden Longkumer said that COVID-19 cess that became effective on the midnight of April 28 only revealed “how incapacitated the government of Nagaland is in not only tackling COVID-19 pandemic but also the in the whole gamut of governance.”
MCCI said the worst was that the cess revealed the “insatiable cupidity” of the government and how it has wandered distantly from objective to function for the welfare of the common people adding it was a shocking abuse of state power.
MCCI also opined that “this surreptitious exploitation of the common people” was highly questionable that would compel civil society organisations to demand that the COVID-19 cess on petrol and diesel be repealed without delay in line with the objective of the government to function.
Drawing attention to the statement by the state chief secretary who justified imposing COVID-19 cess on increasing the state’s revenue under the present situation, MCCI said the chief secretary had disclosed that the state revenue target for March was Rs.106 crore but had collected only Rs.5 crores due to current lockdown. MCCI said its view was that the rationale put forth of accruing revenue by jeopardizing the entire economy, was not wise.
Instead, the government should be focussing on facilitating and enabling the recovery of the state’s fragile economy rather than abusing state power to destroy whatever remains of the economy by reminding of the proverbial hen that lays the golden egg.
In fact, MCCI said it would be a surprise if the state government announced a stimulus for local businesses to tide over their financial stress caused by the lockdown and effect a direct impact to stimulate the economic revival of the state instead of choking the state’s fragile economy.