New Delhi: The government will consider the real estate industry’s demand to remove double taxation on developers who have to pay both labour cess as well as PF/ESI, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said on Wednesday.
Addressing a conference organised by realtors’ apex body Credai, the minister also expressed concern over huge amount of labour cess being unutilised.
Around Rs 16,000 crore is lying in the treasuries of the state governments, he added. The industry has raised the issue of duplication of taxes for carrying out labour welfare, he said. “We will consider the industry’s demand,” Dattatreya said, adding that he would call the industry representatives to discuss this issue.
He assured the developers that there would not be any inspector raj in this government, but only inspection. Dattatreya said the government wants to simplify the labour laws and plans to bring four bills in the Parliament.
Credai National President Getamber Anand said the duplication of taxes in form of labour cess as well as imposition of PF/ESI should be removed.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the construction industry is facing a gap of three crore skilled workers. “Construction sector is deficient of skilled people. The biggest challenge is we don’t have trainers,” Rudy said. He asked the industry to partner with government for skill development and training.
Nearly 11 crore additional skilled workforce will be required by 24 sectors like automobile, retail, handloom and construction by 2022, according to the skills gap report commissioned by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
PTI