Centre rules out tax free status to NE States

NEW DELHI, Dec 17 — The Centre has ruled out the possibility of according ‘tax free’ status to the north-eastern States. Minister in-charge for Department of Development of North-eastern Region (DONER) Arun Shourie, in response to a question is the Lok Sabha, pointed out that already under the new industrial policy of 1998, several tax concessions were provided under direct taxes for the region. The incentives cited included 100 per cent tax holidays for 10 years. In addition a new industrial package was announced is 1999 for the region and one of the components of the package was excise duty exemption for industrial units in the region for 10 years. Meanwhile, Shourie has clarified that DONER has retained six projects worth over Rs 138 crore for further examination. Other proposals were returned by the ministry to the Assam Government. Besides these, there were some other proposals which were also returned as these did not figure on the priority list. The Minister was referring to the fate of the 200 project proposals submitted by the Assam government for sanction.