Fiscal end looming, Akhilesh Yadav steps up to raise tax-filing concerns amid Coronavirus 

Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday urged the Centre to announce relaxation in the time frame for filing tax returns as the country gears up for a fight with the coronavirus pandemic. His statement comes as the financial year 2019-20 will come to a close on March 31.

'Govt should immediately announce relaxations'

"The country's businessmen, salaried employees and chartered accountants have the burden of the final week of the financial year along with that of coronavirus. The government should immediately announce relaxations without any extra fines or charges and also the additional time frame and relaxation in rules in filing returns, thereby freeing the taxpayers of the fear of government," Yadav tweeted in Hindi on Monday.

Uttar Pradesh has 27 reported cases of Coronavirus. The Uttar Pradesh government has put 16 districts under total lockdown in the state which are Agra, Lucknow, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Varanasi, Lakhimpur Khiri, Bareilly, Azamgarh, Kanpur, Meerut, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Pilibhit and Saharanpur. 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also said that no bus will leave the state till further orders. Yogi Adityanath even appealed to people to perform prayers inside their houses and not visit religious place for worshipping.

75 districts under lockdown in India

On March 20, the centre and the state governments decided to lockdown 75 districts across India.  These districts are in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting by chief secretaries of all states and cabinet secretaries and principal secretary to the Prime Minister. Besides Delhi, Uttarakhand and West Bengal's governments have announced complete lockdown till March 31st.

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On Sunday, India observed "Janta Curfew", following PM Modi's appeal to contain coronavirus outbreak. In India total 423 confirmed cases and eight deaths have been reported so far.

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(With agency inputs)