THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the GST council’s decision to levy 5% GST on pre-packaged and labelled food items including cereals, pulses and flour inviting widespread criticism, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to review the decision.
Necessary steps should be taken to re-examine the changes so that the common man is not subject to further hardships, especially at a time when the inflation rate remains high, wrote Pinarayi.In his letter, Pinarayi referred to the GST council’s decision to change the modality of imposing GST on goods like rice, wheat, flour, pulses and cereals.
These are essential commodities that form a substantial part of the common people’s consumption budget. The new decision is likely to have a negative impact on the family budget of the middle class people, who are already bearing the brunt of high inflation, he said.