THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Wednesday took an in-principle decision to do away with Value Added Tax (VAT) for LNG in the state.
The decision, taken following a request from the Centre in the wake of Kerala’s demand for expediting the FACT revival package, would cost the state an annual loss of Rs 103 crore, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. “We have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister and met Union Minster for Fertilizer Ananth Kumar seeking to expedite the FACT revival package. The Centre has asked us to consider omitting VAT for LNG to support this industry. Hence, the Cabinet on Wednesday took an in-principle decision to do away with VAT for LNG,’’ Chandy said.
With the decision to sacrifice the 14.5 pc VAT on LNG, the State Government would suffer a loss of Rs 103 crore per year, Chandy said. The government has also decided to make a proposal to set up a power plant at the FACT property. ‘’There’s lot of unused land at the FACT Cochin division. So, we decided to ask the FACT authorities to hand over the unused land to set up a power plant,’’ he added.
Other Decisions
Following demands from homoeopathy students, the Cabinet decided to increase the stipend of Homoeopathy PG students to Rs 25,000 per month in tune with the Ayurveda PG students.
‘Daiva Dasakam’ in Curriculum
T’Puram: ‘Daiva Dasakam’ will be included in the curriculum so that new generation will be able to study about Sree Narayana Guru in depth, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Wednesday. “Through Daiva Dasakam, Guru is leading us along the God’s way,” the Chief Minister said.