Estimating that Gujarat's 73% of industrial units have not paid wages during the lockdown period, which began on March 24, three senior social activists, economist Hemantkumar Shah, environmentalist Mahesh Pandya and farmers' leader Sagar Rabari in a letter to the Gujarat government have said that the state government should pay 75% of their wages for three months, from April to June.
At the same time, the letter, written on behalf of the civil rights organization, Gujarat Social Watch, says that unorganized sections of society, including petty traders, construction workers, agricultural workers, and others, be paid Rs 3,000 for three months in order to help their families as monetary help.
Proposing a large number of measures to former IAS bureaucrat Hasmukh Adhia, who has been appointed as head of the committee to revive the state's economy, the eight-age letter said the government must abolish tax of those whose incomes are more than Rs 15,000, and increase the tax of those whose income is more than Rs 50,000 per month from 5 to 10%.
Other proposals include 25% rise in the stamp duty on the sale deed of real state property costing Rs 25 lakh or more; increase in duty on petrol and diesel; increase in property tax of those owning housing space of more than 200 metres; distribution of income from religious places to farmers' welfare, and so on.
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