Brace for fresh taxes shortly for a cause: The state government has decided to impose additional taxes to mop up revenue of Rs 1,500 crore in the next one year to take up rehabilitation of flood victims in north Karnataka.

The finance department is working out the various modalities, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said.Addressing an-all party meeting on Sunday to discuss the implementation of relief and rehabilitation works, the CM said the government will ensure that these taxes will not be a burden on common man and it will be withdrawn once they reach the target of Rs 1,500 crore.

Despite Rs 1,000 crore interim relief from the Centre and another Rs 1,000 crore collected from generous donations, Yeddyurappa maintained that the government still cannot afford all the projects. Agreeing with him, home minister V S Acharya said the government may need huge funds to match the central grants.

Acharya indicated that the additional tax will be levied either on commodities under Value Added Tax (VAT) or the sales tax.

Earlier, Yeddyurappa said a high-powered committee will meet on Monday to the rehabilitation measures besides the shifting of 219 villages involving 81,000 families located dangerously close to Krishna basin.

If necessary, Yeddyurappa said, the government will soon promulgate an ordinance to shift villages and grant special powers to the deputy commissioners to acquire land for building new villages.

Within a year, we will build one lakh houses at a cost of Rs 1 lakh each, Yeddyurappa said, even as he sought the cooperation of the opposition parties to convince the villagers to move to newer areas.

He had a special word of praise for KPCC president R V Deshpande for his intervention in getting the Rs 1,000 crore amount from the Centre.