Poor get poorer
As always, given the inequities built into the global economic system, the poorest people in the world have been the…
The state government went into a huddle of sorts on Thursday to work out alternative measures to combat the Federation of All Odisha Traders Association (FAOTA) which has decided to stop import of essential food items from Friday.
Ministers and officers of concerned departments held a meeting today and formed a Task Force to monitor the situation on daily basis with district level officials to ensure that there is no scarcity of pulses, edible oil, wheat products etc.
The decision is to engage with the national e-marketing limited and procure pluses to tackle the situation, said official sources.
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Negotiations with the FAOTA had failed yesterday as the association insisted on the demand to abolish VAT on these items. The five per cent VAT needs to be withdrawn as has been done by 24 states in the country, said the FAOTA while noting that Odisha is a consumer state.
The FAOTA said that Odisha government had agreed to reduce the VAT from five to one per cent on 26 March but for some inexplicable reason the government later has gone back on its promise.
Traders said they would stop importing essential food grains to Odisha from 1 April. They had threatened to stop the import of essential commodities pulses, edible oil, sugar, rice, wheat and wheat products from other states which would create much inconvenience to general public. Earlier, during the day, Opposition Congress members had stalled proceedings of the Assembly on the same issue.
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