4 months ago
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Tobacco growers of Karnataka, who took retired a protestation march successful Periyapatna connected January 5 and Hunsur connected January 6 against the steep hike successful work imposed connected baccy products by the Centre, met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah successful Mysuru connected January 6 and urged him to constitute to the Centre to rotation backmost the “excessive” summation successful duty.
The baccy growers condemned the Union Finance Ministry’s caller notification of Chewing Tobacco, Jarda Scented Tobacco and Gutkha Packing machines (Capacity Determination and Collection of Duty) Rules 2026, which travel into unit from February 1.
The growers, who had gathered nether the aegis of Federation of Karnataka’s Virginia Flue Cured (VFC) Tobacco Growers’ Association, handed implicit a memorandum to the Periyapatna tahsildar connected January 5 and Hunsur Assistant Commissioner connected January 6. “We volition manus implicit memorandums to MPs representing Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan, which are baccy increasing regions successful Karnataka,” the federation’s wide caput Vikram Raj Urs told The Hindu.
The caller notification issued by the Centre announced the hike successful work connected baccy products from 53% to a whopping 82%, Mr. Urs claimed, adding that the caller rules efficaciously enforce an excise work ranging from ₹2,050 to ₹8,500 per 1,000 sticks, depending connected the magnitude of the cigaret and its filter.
The baccy growers fearfulness that the steep hike successful work volition unit home manufacturers to rise the prices of finished goods, which volition successful crook pb to a driblet successful income and indirectly wounded the supplies from farmers. “This could origin a glut successful the baccy harvest marketplace successful the adjacent term,” the federation’s president H.G. Paramesh said successful a statement.
In the memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, the federation said the baccy harvest earned a overseas speech of ₹16,728 crore successful 2024–25 portion the livelihoods of baccy farmers, cultivation labourers, warehouse workers, transporters and others employed successful the home cigaret ecosystem beryllium connected the stableness of the home cigaret industry.
“We are already suffering nether the load of an highly precocious taxation complaint connected cigarettes (which usage FCV tobacco) which connected per kg ground is much than 50 times higher than beedis and much than 30 times higher than chewing tobacco, thereby unfairly penalising the VFC baccy farmers,” the memorandum said.
Apart from the driblet successful request for home VFC baccy leaf, the crisp emergence successful retail prices of cigarettes volition pb the user to substitution by mode of cheaper illicit cigarettes. The availability of smuggled cigarettes astatine a cheaper terms volition origin a gross loss, the federation said.
