: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan has launched a scathing attack on the Union government accusing it of trying to weaken cooperative banks by slapping income tax on the business turnover registered by them.
“The Centre appears to be deaf to the vociferous plea by the joint platform of the cooperative sector in Kerala demanding to do away with the hefty income tax slab enforced on the cooperative banks and there is no shift in stance adopted by both the previous Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA dispensations,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member said.
The decision to impose tax slabs on the business turnover has put the cooperative banks in the State in difficulty and the approach is detrimental to the general view on the need to streamline the cooperative sector in the overall interest of the general public, the former State Cooperation minister said, inaugurating the Neeleswaram Urban Cooperative Bank branch at Thrikarippur on Wednesday.
Maintaining that the Reserve Bank is interested only in flourishing banking sector and does not even adopt a soft approach to the ‘popular support base’ enjoyed by the cooperative banks in the state, he said the banks are able to withstand the adverse conditions mainly due to the support received from the promoters of the sector in the State.
The function was addressed, among others, by K. Kunhiraman, MLA, IUML leader and district panchayat president A.G.C. Basheer.
