The Jharkhand government, which had last week received praise for the decision-making that led to the state being ranked third in the country in a World Bank report on business reforms, had to roll back two decisions on Tuesday. While Chief Minister Raghubar Das had to put on hold the film shooting regulations, his cabinet decided to alter a proposed diesel tax hike later in the day. The film shooting regulations, approved by the cabinet on September 1, had drawn criticism from all quarters - even Das' colleague in the BJP and former CM Arjun Munda criticised it in public. The regulations, criticised for copying those of states that are popular filming locations without application of mind, had mandated a payment of Rs 50 lakhs for a weeks' shooting in the state. Filmmakers were then expected to pay the government, of a state with no infrastructure in place to support them, Rs 10 lakhs for every additional day. The regulations led regional filmmakers, whose entire production budget is a fraction of the proposed fee, to throw up their arms in the air. Those like Zeishan Quadri, the scriptwriter-turned-director from Dhanbad who will repeatedly be at the helm for Gangs of Wasseypur 3, said that he was reconsidering his plans of shooting in the state. "My government is committed to promoting the artists of the state. We are putting on hold the regulations till the Film Act is finalised," a government release quoted Das as saying. The VAT on petrol and diesel had been approved by the previous cabinet, on September 15. It had been fixed at 22 percent for both or Rs. 12.5 on diesel and Rs. 15 per litre on petrol, whichever was higher. The powerful transporter lobby in the state, which lacks an efficient public transport infrastructure, went up in arms about the diesel hike. As a result, Tuesday's cabinet decided to bring down the VAT on diesel to Rs. 8.37 per litre or 22 percent - whichever is higher - but retained the tax on petrol.
