Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Subair Kolakkadan and secretary Rajesh Kunhappan said at a press conference here on Thursday that the State Budget had not earmarked funds for infrastructure development projects in Kozhikode.
The budget had totally ignored the often discussed projects such as the expansion of the Calicut airport, Beypore port, Mobility Hub for Kozhikode city, development of infrastructure in IT sector, Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road widening, Kozhikode beach beautification, and second phase of development of roads in Kozhikode city, they said.
However, Mr. Subair welcomed the proposal to provide relaxation upto ₹40 lakh in the GST registration. It was unfortunate that the budget did not consider the plea of air passengers to reduce the sales tax on aviation turbine fuel at the Calicut airport, M. Muzammil, former president, CCCI, said. The Consumer Goods Distributors’ Association (CGDA), while hailing the proposal to provide GST registration relaxation upto ₹40 lakh, said that levying a cess on products in Kerala would be a setback to commerce, trading and construction sectors.
Legislators from both the ruling and opposition sides should take up the issue, CGDA president C.E. Chakkunny said.
He also pointed out that Kerala, which was going through a grave financial crisis, would have greater challenges in the future. At the same time, some of the welfare schemes proposed in the budget was appreciable, Mr. Chakkunny said.
The Malabar Chamber of Commerce (MCC) said the GST registration proposal would be beneficial for small traders. The decision to impose 1% Kerala Flood Cess on products would obviously result in an increase in the prices of essential commodities. The construction sector would be heavily affected, K.K. Manu, secretary, MCC, said.
However, Mr. Manu said that the budget had proposed several welfare measures.
The proposal to construct an elevated railwayline from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram would help in solving traffic snarls and improving goods transportation, he said.