West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Saturday alleged that his voice was “muzzled” in the course of the GST Council assembly on Saturday and his opposition to levy taxes on Covid necessities like vaccines, masks, PPE kits and anti-viral drug Remdesivir, was not heard. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, nevertheless, countered Mitra’s prices saying that technical glitches marred West Bengal Finance Minister speech. The forty fourth GST Council assembly, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers, on Saturday slashed tax fee on Covid medication resembling Remdesivir and Tocilizumab in addition to on medical oxygen, and oxygen concentrators however ignored calls for for a discount in taxes on vaccines.
In the night, Mitra tweeted: “GoI-led the anti-people move & imposed GST on vaccine, mask, hand sanitizer, oxygen, PPE, oximeter, Covid test kit, Remdesivir, RT PCR machine..Since my voice ignored, I have recorded my dissent by letter. Unprecedented. Slow death of the only body of cooperative federalism”. Mitra had prompt zero score or 0.1 per cent GST on Covid necessities.
In the letter to Sitharaman, Mitra mentioned the choice to proceed to levy GST on Covid-related objects is “anti-people” and “draconian” which is able to harm tens of millions of individuals. “I tried my best to repeatedly raise my objection after your announcing this decision, but unfortunately, I was never given the floor and my voice was muzzled, as the Secretary brought the meeting to a close and the virtual link was cut off. Whither GST Council!” Mitra wrote.
Taking to twitter, Thakur mentioned he wish to “set the record straight”, and went on so as to add that in his over two years of attending the GST Council, Sitharaman has by no means reduce off anybody in the course of the Council discussions. “During the GST Council discussions today (June 12), it seemed as if the Finance Minister from West Bengal did not have a stable VC connection. Revenue Secy repeatedly informed him his line was breaking, that he was not properly audible & to turn off his video for better connectivity,” Thakur tweeted.
He mentioned that in the course of the speech made by the Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister, no person heard Mitra converse, nor did he ask to have his opinion heard. “Other members can attest to this”. “At the end of the discussion, when FM @nsitharaman ji asked the Council whether anyone would like to speak & add their comments, Dr Mitra ji again remained silent and did not speak up,” Thakur added.
Stating that Sitharaman has patiently given each speaker as a lot time as they wanted, Thakur mentioned “the Finance Minister has never stifled dissent in the GST Council. It is unbecoming of a senior member of the Council to suggest that this has happened. The GST Council embodies the collective spirit of all states towards debate in a healthy manner; it has been & shall continue”. The Council reduce to nil GST on COVID-19 drug Tocilizumab and black fungus medication Amphotericin B, from current 5 per cent. Hand sanitiser, pulse oximeters, BiPAP machine, testing kits, ambulances and temperature test gear had been among the many 18 objects on which GST charges had been lowered.
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