By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 29, 2017: Odisha cabinet on Wednesday extended the waiver of value added tax (VAT) on pulses till June 30 keeping possible implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 next.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik approved six other proposals including offer of 3.5 acre land free of cost for the establishment of an IT park in Rourkela.

Among others, the Cabinet agreed to provide 51-acre land to Omfed for a milk processing plant at Baranga in Cuttack district. The plant would process surplus milk from the farmers and produce processed products like ice cream, paneer, curd and milk powder.

National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned loan of Rs 244 crore from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for this plant. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been engaged as the consultant for this project.

Besides, the cabinet gave in-principle approval to the amendments to Odisha Start-up Policy proposed by the MSME department. Henceforth, start-ups will get incentives on individual basis.