Bengal Budget FY 22: Govt grants road tax waiver on passenger

Kolkata, Jul 07 (PTI):
The West Bengal government on Wednesday waived road tax on passenger transport vehicles and offered a rebate on stamp duty as it tabled a Rs 3.08- lakh- crore Budget in the assembly for the financial year 2021-2022. Presenting the Budget, state industry minister Partha Chatterjee said the government has decided to extend the one- time exemption of motor vehicle tax for the period starting July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
The government has also proposed to reduce stamp duty by two per cent for registration of deeds, while circle rate was slashed by ten per cent. Chatterjee presented the budget as finance minister Amit Mitra is unwell.
In February, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had placed the vote-on-account in the House, during which 26 schemes and projects were announced. Talking about the student credit card scheme, launched on June 30, the minister said that interest rate of four per cent will be charged as a part of subvention, while the rest will be borne by the government.
Also, no collateral will be required for availing the scheme, and the loan amount will be fully insured and state guaranteed. He further said that the state government will soon launch West Bengal basic income scheme christened as ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ to support a woman member of every household. Under the scheme, Rs 1,000 will doled out to women of SC/ST households and Rs 500 to those belonging to the general category.
The government will transfer the money directly to their bank accounts, he maintained. Chatterjee noted that farmers have started receiving benefits of the Krishak Bandhu scheme. He said that the government’s ‘duare ration’ scheme under which food grains are delivered to doorsteps — will be scaled up in the days to come.
The industry minister, during his speech, also proposed allocation for major departments for the ongoing financial year, with health and school education getting a substantial part of the pie. The budget speech was critical of the rise in fuel prices in
the country.