Maha CM meets PM; demands tax exemption for sugarcane farmers

New Delhi, Jan 19 (PT) An all-party delegation led byMaharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today met PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh with a demand to exempt sugarcanefarmers from paying direct taxes.

Raising the issue in separate meetings with Singh andFinance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Chavan said the decision ofthe Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to levy taxes on thesugarcane growers will affect over 150 sugar cooperatives and20 lakh farmers.

Besides Chavan, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, Union MinistersVilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Deputy Chief MinisterAjit Pawar and Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul were part of thedelegation that met Singh and Mukherjee.

The delegation made an unanimous demand to the PrimeMinister to direct the CBDT to keep its decision in abeyance.

The Prime Minister assured of all possible cooperationafter deliberating the matter with the concerned department.

"He has agreed to look at it and the legal processbeing exhaustive, he needed time to become aware what theissues are," Chavan told PTI after meeting Mukherjee.

Chavan said he also raised the matter of extending taxexemption to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region DevelopmentAuthority.