Leaders who were protesting in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Parliament premises were sloganeering ‘We want compensation of the GST.’
The protest was staged in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Parliament premises. (Photo: Twitter/@priyankac19)
Several opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday staged a protest against the ruling BJP over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) dues to the states.
The protest was staged in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Parliament premises.
The leaders were sloganeering “We want compensation of the GST.”
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As per the reports, the parties whose MPs participated in the protest included Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena.
Taking it to Twitter, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “Timely payment of GST dues to the states was a commitment made by the centre. For the states to be denied this goes against the spirit of federalism& then blaming it on Act of God is GOI’s act of absolving itself from responsibility. Participated in the parliament protest today.”
https://twitter.com/priyankac19/status/1306559707356835840
Last month, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the coronavirus pandemic has hit the economy bad as the goods and services (GST) collection has the shortfall of Rs 2.35 lakh crore for fiscal 2021.
The minister told that the centre has released over Rs 1.65 lakh crore as GST compensation to states for fiscal 2020, including Rs 13,806 crore for March.
“Compensation gap which has arisen this year (expected to be Rs 2.35 lakh crore). This shortfall is due to Covid-19 as well. The shortfall in compensation due to implementation of GST has been estimated to be Rs 97,000 crore,” the FinMin said.
She had said, “Two options were placed before states, we told them that we will facilitate talking with RBI and help to get G-security linked interest rates so that each state does not have to struggle for loans.”
“States have requested us to lay down both options in detail, and give them 7 full working days to deliberate on it and get back, a brief GST Council meeting may be held again,” she said.
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