Fapi to dodge taxes from March 24

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Industries (Fapi), which represents around 2,000 large and medium-scale industries in the state, on Thursday threatened to dodge sales, central excise and vacant land taxes, power bills and bank interests from March 24, if the state government failed to meet its demands.

“We are opposing the power tariff hike, which the state government has proposed to enforce from April 1, 2012, as it will cripple the industry further. We have convened a state-level meeting with the presidents of CII, Ficci and Fapcci to take a decision on this,” BV Rama Rao, president of Fapi and MDof Swarnandhra Jute Mills, told mediapersons here.

There are 4,350 large and medium industries in the state, and various issues including regular power cuts forced 40 per cent of them to turn sick. The 12-day power holiday in a month from March 1 was only adding to the woes and would bring down production by 50 per cent, he added.

According to Rao, many gas-based power projects had come up in the state with a capacity of 5,340 Mw but natural gas linkage is available only to the extent of 1,670 Mw. The state government is not making any attempts to secure gas linkage for the remaining capacity, he said.

“Reliance is not producing enough gas from its D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin and the Centre is not taking any action against the company. We demand that the state government take up the issue with the Centre and find a solution to help sustain the industry,” Rao said.