Former Chief Minister Raghubar Das has written a letter to Chief Minister Hemant Soren with the demand to repeal Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) amendment Act, 2022.
Das in his letter has said that with the new bill the provisions of levying two percent tax on all transactions at the mandis operated in the state by the Jharkhand State Agricultural Marketing Board. He said that with the introduction of new tax, prices of essential food grains will go up at the same time it will give access to the middleman.
Das, the BJP national vice president also said that while on one hand the Prime Minister is removing the old outdated tax system, the Chief Minister is imposing a new tax system on the people.
The former Chief Minister also gave reference to the Governor returning back the Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) amendment Bill, 2022 on technical grounds.
It may be noted that Governor Ramesh Bais recently has returned the agriculture produce amendment Bill, 2022 sent for his assent back to the state government directing it to rectify the differences in the Hindi and English versions of the said Bill, which was cleared by the assembly during the budget session.
The Bill was sent for Governor’s assent around two weeks back. After going through the two versions, anomalies have been found in 10 sections of the Bill. The government has been asked to rectify them accordingly.
While Raj Bhawan has returned the Bill on grounds of difference in the Hindi and English versions, traders operating in the mandis were also opposed to the Bill and have been demanding the state government to roll back the amended law.
Ranchi Mayor and BJP national secretary Asha Lakra too has urged the State government to repeal the agriculture law. She said that during pandemic time, traders had to face difficulties; imposition of new agriculture tax will burden the traders. She also urged the traders to lift their strike in the larger interest of people.
