Tourist bus owners with national permits will receive a discount of Rs 1.2 lakh on their annual tax, according to the Kerala budget proposal. National permit buses with regular seats are currently taxed at Rs 2,250 per seat for three months. Under the latest budget provision, this will be cut to Rs 1,500. Buses with push-back seats are currently taxed at Rs 3,000 per seat for each quarter. The government proposes to reduce this to Rs 2,000. The tax on sleeper-berth buses has been reduced from Rs 4,000 to Rs 3,000 per berth.
Finance minister K N Balagopal has allocated ₹239 crore for the second phase of Kochi Metro rail in the budget speech. The allocation will fuel land acquisition and other preliminary works. The budget also includes allocations for various ongoing projects in Kochi.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7 (PTI) Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu on Wednesday made it clear that the LDF Government has taken no final decision to welcome foreign and private universities in the state and the Finance Minister just indicated about exploring it's possibilities in the recent budget.
It is evident in the budget that the left-wing government, which constantly swears that it will try to create a people-friendly alternative, is changing its policy in various strategic areas in ways.
The resolution moved by Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal said that certain actions of the Centre have given rise to a situation where states are being ‘deprived of their constitutionally reserved powers’.