Mayawati blames Centre for price hike

Lucknow, Mar 17 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today expressed concern over the hike in prices of essential commodities and blamed the Centre for the uncontrolled inflation.

Refusing the opposition parties allegation that implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the state was the main reason for the rise of the prices, she said rate of taxes had gone down after VAT.

Addressing a press conference here, Ms Mayawati said inflation was the main reason for the price hike as it touched 5.11 per cent.

'' The State government was making all possible efforts to check prices but the Centre has totally failed to contain the galloping prices'', she added.

Lauding the new tax regime in the State launched from January, she said within a month of implementation of VAT, in February last the tax revenue had registered 6.7 per cent increase as compared to the previous year, where even entry tax could not be collected due to judicial dispute.

Hitting hard on the Centre for ignoring the poor and the lower section of the society over the price hike, the BSP president said the UPA government could have decreased the taxes to control the prices, but it didn't do so.

Clarifying her government's stand on VAT, she said while implementing new tax system, the rates of 436 commodities out of the total 1,861 had been decreased while the rates of 1,376 articles were not changed. A nominal increase in the rate of tax on only 49 commodities had been changed which hardly affected the common man.

She said the prices of the daily use items like atta, vanaspati ghee, spices, rice, infant food, mustard oil, medicines and some other essential commodities had increased, while the State government had either decreased or kept unchanged the tax er[ rate under VAT.

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