JAIPUR: Rajasthan Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal on Saturday demanded the exemption of all Covid-related goods and services, including its test kits, from the GST for fiscal 2021-22, The minister raised the demand in a meeting of the GST Council chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
In the meeting, he also asked the Centre to release the GST compensation amount to Rajasthan at the earliest.
The GST Council had already exempted the Covid-related materials like oxygen and its equipment, ventilators, remdesivir and other essential medicines, Covid testing kits, pulse oximeter etc from the GST till August 31, 2021. But the minister sought the exemption to be extended till March 31, 2022.
Dhariwal said experts believe that the third wave of the pandemic may come in September-October. Therefore, the exemption should be extended till March 31, 2022, and, if needed, it should be continued even further, he added.
Dhariwal also expressed disagreement over the charging of tax on coronavirus vaccines, saying it is completely wrong not to include the members of the Opposition in the formation of the Group of Ministers.
He demanded from the council that the GST Secretariat should be made operational so that all issues are resolved in a time-bound manner.
He also demanded from the Centre to release the outstanding GST compensation amount of Rs 4,635.29 crore for 2020-21.