Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exempt excise duty on white goods and kitchen equipment sold in the flood affected districts till March 31. This will help bring down their prices.
She also wanted the devastation caused by the floods to be declared a national calamity. “I request you to immediately declare this unprecedented, catastrophic and cataclysmic event a national calamity,” she said in a letter to Modi, released to the media by the State government.
As a special case, all flood affected families may be liberally extended soft loans by banks for purchase of vehicles, educational loans and personal loans up to ₹5 lakh to purchase essential domestic durable assets.
Such a package of assistance will help families to restart their lives. Since many of these households would also be Jan Dhan account holders, the total eligible loan limit may be appropriately relaxed for such account holders. The Tamil Nadu government will provide special certification to all such families, based on which banks may be asked to expeditiously sanction the loans as per their norms.
She urged the Prime Minister to direct the Finance Ministry to immediately formulate a liberal scheme and issue appropriate orders and guidelines.