Tamil Nadu, Chennai, 28/05/2021 : As the number of hospitalisations due to the Coronavirus disease in Chennai city, Oxygen support patients admitted inside the COVID-19 ward, Wearing a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) nurses on duty Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Tower-3, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai on Friday. Photo : Jothi Ramalingam .B / The Hindu | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
The States ruled by Opposition parties, who were unhappy with the agenda of Friday’s meeting of the GST Council, will wait for the report of the proposed group of ministers on the issue of the demand for zero per cent taxation for equipment and medicines for management of Covid-19. The States have also told the GST panel they will not allow any more items to be added into the Centre’s ambit.
Talking to BusinessLine , Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal said the Opposition ruled States have raised their points in a forceful manner. “The Centre said they will agree to form a group of ministers and its report will be prepared within eight days. Based on that report, the Council will take a decision,” he said.
He added that the States opposed the proposal for bringing ‘Extra Neutral Alcohol’ under the ambit of GST. “Most of the States made it clear that they are not ready to forego their revenues and not even one item would be passed on to Centre’s table. We also opposed a similar proposal to bring tax on natural gas under Centre’s control. There was a letter from Centre in these lines,” he said.
‘Snatch powers’
Balagopal, who was a member of the select committee of Rajya Sabha on GST Bill, said if the Centre continues to snatch powers of the States, the harmonious relationship between the States and the Centre could be harmed.
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the decision to put on hold Covid relief showed the lack of compassion by the Union government. “GST compensation needs a primary maths teacher; Central government reduces proposed compensation by nearly 33 per cent amidst faking revenues,” he tweeted.
Published on May 28, 2021
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.