MTU, others write to Finance Minister, seek tax relief
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 10 2024:
The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union, Meitei Student's Association (MSA), Awang Sekmai Advance Women's Society (ASAWS) and Mani-pur Meetei Pangal Welfare Organisation (MMPWO) have written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a plea to give tax relief and not collect loan interest from the people of Manipur.
The four organisations, in a joint missive, said that all the economic activities have been greatly affected by the violence in Manipur which has displaced more than 70,000 people.
Saying that many business establishments and houses have been destroyed and torched in the course of the violence causing extensive financial loss in all business sectors, it added that more than Rs 700 crore have been lost only in the agrarian sector due to the ethnic crisis.
The four organisations further stated that many displaced people have taken loans from different banks and financial institutions but they are not in the position to repay the EMI.
Highlighting the direct and indirect problems being faced by MSME, business enterprises and general public due to the violence, they maintained that the market size has eventually shrunk/restricted to a few kilometres from the Imphal Municipality and there is dearth of raw material.
The cost of raw material has become very high and hence it is not feasible to conduct business, they said.
Sudden and frequent imposition of public curfew makes the market more uncertain resulting in the loss of manufactured products such as perishable goods, it pointed out and continued that manufacturers are unable to measure and deter- mine the quantity of production and investment due to the uncertainty of the market thereby hampering the business growth.
The four organisations also said that export and import of goods and raw material has also been jeopardised due to the situation along the highway stretches.
It continued that the prolonged shutdown of the internet also made a huge impact on the market.
Maintaining that legal notices or calls from banks to the displaced people and affected loanees affect their mental health, the four organisations said that many assets procured through loan remain unutilised (Non Performing Asset) due to the ethnic violence.
It then appealed to the Union Finance Minister to consider exempting income tax payment from the general public and waiving off loan for the loanees.
At least consider extending the moratorium period of the displaced people if waiving off the entire loan amount would not be feasible, the four organisations appealed.