l Rs 500 crore was made available to the State immediately from the National Calamity Contingency Fund.

l The National Calamity Contingency Fund, set up with initial corpus of Rs 500 crore as a result of the Eleventh Finance Commission recommendations, is being augmented by the imposition of a 2 per cent surcharge on personal income tax and corporate tax.

l Assistance will be provided to the State Government under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes for reconstruction of roads, bridges, power installations, school buildings, public utilities and other public infrastructure.

l Arrangements have been tied up with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for obtaining a line of credit of US $ 800 million. A joint team has already visited Gujarat and substantial additional funds are expected to be negotiated.

l RBI has instructed banks to make special arrangements for freezing of recoveries and extension of new loans on a liberal terms for borrowers in the affected areas.

l The National Housing Bank and HUDCO have set apart adequate funds for housing reconstruction. I also propose to allocate a special quota of tax free bonds of the order of Rs 2000 crore between the two institutions.

l As was done after the Orissa cyclone, cement and steel used for construction in the Indira Awas Yojana, by HUDCO and by agencies identified by the State Government, would be exempt from excise duty.

l The Government of Gujarat will be enabled to raise funds by floating tax free earthquake relief bonds which will be open to subscription in Rupees to individuals and others including Non-Resident Indians through the Reserve Bank of India.

l All goods intended for relief have been exempted from excise and customs duties; direct tax assessees have been given extension of time for filing their returns.

l The Eleventh Finance Commission has recommended a special levy for the replenishment of the National Calamity Contingency Fund. As an ad hoc measure, this was provided for in the current year through a special surcharge on corporate taxes. I propose to establish this funding on a regular basis through a special surcharge of excise on a range of products the use of which should be discouraged on health grounds. I propose to levy a surcharge of 15% on cigarettes. The duty on biris would increase from Rs 6 to Rs 7 per thousand biris. The total duty on pan masala would be 55%/60%. Miscellaneous tobacco products like chewing tobacco would be charged to a total duty of 60%.The revenue generated from the above products will go to the earthquake relief funds.

l   I now propose to remove all surcharges payable by corporates and non-corporates except the surcharge of 2 % for relief to quake hit areas of Gujarat. Individuals having an income of up to Rs 60,000/- will not be subject to this surcharge.