BENGALURU: Both the Union and State governments have to work on controlling the rising fuel prices, as they have separate levies included in the final price. The reason for the spike is also because of the high international crude prices, which are hovering around $75-76 per barrel, reasoned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Friday.
On bringing fuel prices under the GST regime, she said there are no hurdles from the Centre, but the GST Council has to take a decision. On problems with the new IncomeTax e-filing portal, which was developed by Infosys, she said the company is working on fixing the issues raised by different groups. On the LPG price hike, she said during the pandemic, the poor had been given up to three cylinders free.
Speaking to investors of Raghavendra Cooperative Bank, who had gathered outside her office at 3.30 pm she said, “Processes will have to be followed. I can only talk to the RBI and inform them about the problem here. A report will be submitted to the RBI. I know that senior citizens have been affected.’’
Interaction of different fields needed: FM
Over 20,000 people have been left in the lurch for over a year after the RBI restricted the bank from carrying out transactions.When a reporter said that as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, there were lots of expectations from her, but people are now a little disappointed, she shot back saying, “Is it people’s opinion or your opinion. I’m sorry that I’m not able to rise up to ‘your’ expectation. I will try.”
Nirmala, while interacting with biotech and startup leaders, assured Karnataka of full cooperation, and said an interface of science, business and entrepreneurship is the need of the hour.
At an event organised by the IT/BT and Science and Technology Department, she said the Centre has given priority to create a synergy between various departments involved in scientific research. She commended the persistence exhibited by Karnataka in creating a suitable ecosystem for biosciences and biotechnology industries.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson, Vision Group for Biotechnology, Prashanth Prakash, Chairman, Vision Group for Startups, GS Krishnan, honorary president, ABLE, ABLE, Meena Nagaraj, Director, Department of IT/BT and others were present. Earlier, Nirmala visited the Institute of Bioinformatics & Applied Biotechnology and Bangalore Bioinnovation Center at Electronics City.
NIRMALA MEETS IT-BT, STARTUP REPRESENTATIVES
While interacting with biotech and startup leaders, Nirmala said the Centre has given priority to create a synergy between various departments involved in scientific research. She commended the persistence exhibited by Karnataka in creating a suitable ecosystem industries.