Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has granted a major tax exemption to farmers in the Amaravati capital region of Andhra Pradesh.

Farmers in the region gave 33,000 acres of land to the State Government under the land pooling system for the construction of the new capital, Amaravati.

However, capital gains tax remained a major worry for them and they represented repeatedly to the Union Finance Minister to exempt them from the tax. Finally, the demand was conceded in the present Budget.

Maple Software CEO and the Chairman of the AP Chapter of CII, Shivkumar, said it was a welcome move and the farmers deserved it, as they had sacrificed their fertile lands for the construction of the new capital.

However, he said, there was much disappointment in Visakhapatnam and the north-coastal districts that the demand for a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters had not been conceded. No other major project has been sanctioned specifically for the State in the Union Budget.

#sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in