Prime Minister Manmohan Singh favours waiving octroi, local taxes

NEW DELHI: Admitting that inflation posed a serious threat to the growth momentum affecting the poor and vulnerable sections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today favoured waiving mandi, octroi and local taxes, which impede the smooth movement of essential commodities.

Addressing chief secretaries of states, Singh said that though the economy has been on a high growth trajectory for the past few years, inflation posed a "serious threat to the growth momentum".

"There seems to be a strong case for waiving mandi taxes, octroi and local taxes, which impede the smooth movement of essential commodities," he told the top bureaucrats.

He said there was a need for a "paradigm shift" in the institutional arrangements, for improving the availability of various commodities to meet the higher levels of domestic consumption.

Referring to the internal security situation, he said it was "tense in some parts of our country".

He said there has been an unacceptably high level of violence in areas affected by Left-wing extremism and in the Kashmir Valley.

Singh also said that serious concern had been expressed in many responsible circles about the "lack of ethical conduct and probity in our public life".

The Prime Minister said though major anti-poverty programmes have achieved considerable success, the "quality of delivery of service has not been always as good as it could be, as it should be".