Raipur. A delegation of officials of CG Ferro Alloy Producer Association, CG Mini Steel Plant Association and Vyapari Ekta Panel met CM Vishnu Dev Sai regarding the increased electricity rates. The delegation members told CM Sai that the industry is on the verge of closure due to the impractical increase in electricity rates by the Electricity Board.
The delegation said that earlier the electricity rates of Chhattisgarh were lower than other states. But due to the recent increase, the rates in Chhattisgarh have become higher than the neighbouring states of Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Whereas 70-75 percent of the electricity produced in Chhattisgarh is consumed in other states.
Due to increase in our electricity rates, the goods going to other states will stop. Because electricity is the raw material of our production. If this increase is not withdrawn, the local people here will be deprived of employment. On the other hand, the revenue received by the government from GST will also be reduced drastically.
Apart from this, the Vyapari Ekta Panel submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Sai regarding the difficulties being faced in GST. In the memorandum, it was demanded that the discrepancies in GST should be removed and relief should be provided to the traders. On this, CM Sai assured that soon a meeting of industry related organizations with the officials will be held to resolve the issue.
The delegation included former MLA Shrichand Sundarani, Yogesh Agarwal, Chetan Tarwani, Anil Nachrani of Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufacturer Association, Vijay Jhawar, Dharmveer Nachrani of Chhattisgarh Ferro Alloy Association, Yash Nachrani, Vikram Agarwal, JP Agarwal, Anil Agarwal of Chhattisgarh Mini Steel Plant Association. The members of the delegation said that a memorandum to this effect has also been submitted to the state’s Finance Minister OP Choudhary.
