Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal on Wednesday urged the Opposition United Democratic Front not to use isolated incidents to attack the cooperative sector of the State.
In his reply to the debate on the Demand for Grants pertaining to GST, agricultural income tax, and sales tax in the Assembly, Mr. Balagopal requested the Opposition to refrain from taking a stand that would help “vultures” who had their eyes on the huge deposits in cooperative sector banks.
Responding to the Opposition’s charges regarding the Karuvannur service cooperative bank loan scam, he said none responsible would be spared.
Financial status
On the financial status of the State, Mr. Balagopal called for a concerted effort to counter the Centre’s approach of attempting to use the treasury to control the States’ powers. The State’s tax revenue also plummeted. Tax devolution to the States from the Central pool has dipped considerably.
If Kerala were to get a share of the cess collected in this manner by the Centre, it would receive roughly ₹8,000 crore. Although a little over ₹4,000 crore had been released as GST dues, ₹3,107 crore was still pending from the Centre, Mr. Balagopal said.
