While the state government is struggling to scrape together funds to pay off debt and honour its commitments, the cabinet has dried up a catchment area of considerable revenue for six years.

In a cabinet meeting last week during the state legislature’s four-day session, the Democratic Front government decided to waive tax on copyright sales and lease of motion pictures from April 2005 to April 2011. If levied, the tax would add Rs 200 crore for every one of these years to the state kitty.