No new tax in UP to offset economic impact of COVID-19: Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Sunday said the state government does not intend to impose any new tax to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Replying to a specific question during a virtual press conference, Adityanath said, "We have started our economic activities, and it is moving on rapidly. As compared to the previous month, this month's revenue (collection) seems good.”

“There is no thought of imposing any separate tax, and our focus is to give more relaxation to the public. How to boost industrial activities while following social-distancing norms is our focus," he said.

He also said when migrant labourers started returning to Uttar Pradesh, people thought it would trigger a chaos in the state. "But we considered them as our strength."

The Uttar Pradesh government had recently decided to set up a Migration Commission for exploring opportunities within the state for migrant workers.

The chief minister had recently said, "They (returning migrants) are our people... and if some states want them back, they have to seek permission from the state (UP) government". There is a need to ensure their socio-legal-monetary rights, he had said.

As per the instructions of Adityanath, skill-mapping of about 14.75 migrant workers has so far been completed. Over 1.51 lakh of them are real estate workers, a government spokesperson had said.

On May 29, the UP government had signed initial agreements with various industry bodies to help in providing 11 lakh jobs to migrant labourers who have returned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Indian Industries Association (IIA) accounted for three lakh jobs each, while NARDECO and Laghu Udyog Bharati accounted for 2.5 lakh jobs each, UP MSME Minister Sidharth Nath Singh had told PTI.

He had also said his department has set up a control room for migrant labourers and has so far ensured payment of Rs 1,700 crore dues to workers in 75,000 units.

(Photo Credit: PTI)