Govt gives ₹35K-cr GST compensation
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the GST Council meeting, the Centre on Monday released about ~35,000 crore to states and Union Territories as pending compensation.
The GST Council, the highest decision making body of the indirect tax regime, is slated to hold its meeting on December 18.
“The central government has released GST compensation of ~35,298 crore to states and union territories today,” the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs said in a tweet.
Earlier this month, state finance ministers and representatives of opposition-ruled states met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and expressed their concern over delay in payment of GST compensation. Most of the states rued that the delay in payment has put pressure on their finances affecting many development work.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman assured states that the Centre will not “renege” on the promise of GST compensations. The delays to pass on the money are due to a slippage in collections and states have nothing to be embarrassed about, the finance minister said.
The remarks come at a time when states such as Maharasht r a a nd Keral a have b e e n demanding the compensation sooner.
“It is certainly their right, I am not denying. At the same time, I am also making it clear that I am not reneging on that. States will be given.
“I do not want them (states) to feel embarrassed because it’s not their fault nor is it personally my fault,” she said, admitting that GST collections have been much lower than expectations.
The finance minister attributed the dip in collections to a slip in GST filing due to natural calamities and also due to a slowdown in consumption that has a direct impact on the collections
SANGLI: First, a drought that lasted for more than six months, then floods in August, followed by unseasonal rain coinciding with the harvesting season in October and November — woes of farmers in Sangli do not seem to end. From grapes to rice, crops spread over 29.8 lakh hectare (ha) area, wort h c r o r e s , ha v e b e e n destroyed by these weather-related catastrophes in the western Maharashtra district.
This, coupled with the fact that the administration has not received compensation, has left Sangli farmers, who are wealthier than their counterparts in other parts of the states, trapped in a debt cycle.
Take for example, Dhanpal Pujari, a 42-year-old farmer, who has two seven-acre plots in Miraj Taluka, Sangli district. Pujari said the back-to-back calamities left them with no time to breathe. It started with a drought in November 2018, which prolonged till July owing to a delayed monsoon. According to the district agricultural department, the delayed monsoon destroyed kharif crops on nearly 1.25 lakh ha till June-july. When farmers managed to sow their crops, floods in August damaged crops across 65,000 ha. The unseasonal rainfall in October and November followed, destroying standing crops across 1.08 lakh ha of the 3.38 lakh ha area under cultivation. Sangli received 719.4mm rain until November 18, the highest in the state. “Unseasonal rain in October hit the flowering stage of my grape orchard. Earlier in August, flood damaged my cane plantation. How do we repay the bank loans raised for sowing?” said Pujari. The farmer, who has a grape plantation on three acres of land and cane plantation on two acres of land, is already in a debt of ₹8 lakh. He said that although he was promised compensation from the crop insurance scheme, he is yet to get any money. His next worry: Where will he get the money for sowing