Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday had a telephonic talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation arising out of
Post-demonetization of high value currency notes.
The Prime Minister has requested the Chief Minister to make himself available in New Delhi on Friday. The Prime Minister is expected to hold a meeting with the Chief Minister on Saturday. Modi also asked KCR to prepare a blueprint on the measures to be taken to mitigate the difficulties of the people post-demonetization.
Earlier, the Chief Minister reviewed the impact of the demonetization on the State’s revenue with the Chief Secretary, Special Chief Secretaries and others at his Camp Office.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister felt that if demonetization of currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination was going to help clean up the country’s economy and it should be welcomed. “Any reform is a continuous process and it should be aimed at excellence. When thinkers and intellectuals together embark on a purpose it would be nothing but success. However, any decision taken by the Centre to curb and prevent Black money, should not cause misery and suffering to the lakhs of small traders, and those in the unorganised sectors as well as the common man. Efforts should be put in place to safeguard the interests of these sections in the society. The people should be made partners and stakeholders in the development”, the CM added.
In this context, the Chief Minister opined that all those having more than Rs 2.5 lakh cash as income or having savings should not be treated as black money. Instead it should be referred to as unaccounted money. These small and medium traders, businessmen and others in the unorganized sectors should be given certain exemptions. They need to be supported. They should be given one more chance to disclose and deposit their accounts thereby granting them one-time amnesty.
The Centre should also take into account how the States have incurred losses and less flow of revenue to their exchequers. To mitigate the state’s sufferings, the Centre should defer payments from the States on the loans taken by them, the Chief Minister observed. He said he would bring it to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on all these issues. The Chief Minister reviewed at length the demonetization’s impact on the State’s revenue. It was informed that Transport and Registration departments have bore the major brunt while Excise, Sales and Commercial Taxes also had a setback.
Chief Secretary Rajeev Sharma, MG Gopal, SK Joshi, Pradeep Chandra, SP Singh, S Narsing Rao, Shanti Kumari, Bhoopal Reddy, Navin Mittal, Chandravadan, Smita Sabarwal and Sandeep Sultania attended the meeting. (NSS)