Quake surcharge to continue till Centre compensates

Bhopal, Feb 22(UNI) The government today announced in the Assembly that earthquake surcharge imposed in Madhya Pradesh since 1997 following the Jabalpur earthquake would continue till the Centre compensated it with the introduction of valued added tax (VAT) regime from April this year.

More than Rs 1682.96 crore had been collected as earthquake surcharge till June, 2005, Commercial Tax Minister Babulal Gaur told the Assembly during question hour.

In a reply to Mr Sharad Jain(BJP), the minister said the surcharge collected was deposited in the state's consolidated fund and no separate head-wise account was maintained on its disbursement.

UNI PKJ-SP RL RN1803