Shillong, June 3: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma has informed the Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to examine the GST concession and exemption of COVID relief materials will submit its recommendations before June 8 to the GST Council.
Chaired the first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine GST concession and exemption of Covid relief materials as mandated by Hon’ble FM @nsitharaman Ji in the 43rd @GST_Council meeting. Thank all Hon’ble members for their inputs. pic.twitter.com/1VJOLER9qp
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) June 3, 2021
The 8-member inter-state Group of Ministers headed by the Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma as its Convenor held its first meeting on Thursday. The GoM was constituted by the Finance Ministry to examine the need for GST concession/exemption and make recommendations on COVID vaccines, drugs and medicines for COVID treatment, testing kits for COVID detection.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Conrad said the impetus of the discussion was to see that the benefits and the tax reductions should be beneficial to the people. He shared that they have tried to recommend concessions and the maximum reductions in the rates of items possible that can provide relief to people in these difficult times.
The items for GST concession/exemption include medical grade oxygen, pulse oximeters, hand sanitizers, oxygen therapy equipment such as concentrators, generators and ventilators, PPE kits, N95 masks, surgical masks, temperature checking equipment and any other required for COVID relief.
The GoM also looked at the issue of the rules and regulations and the laws based on which the council functions and ensured that they stuck to the constitution and the provisions that are there in the GST council. They also looked at balancing out the different aspirations of different members of the council as well as the people at large.
Conrad said the GoM is happy with the recommendations and are hopeful that they will be accepted by the GST Council, even as he informed that he would be finalizing the minutes of the meeting and the report within a day or two.
The other members of the GoM include Nitinbhai Patel – Deputy CM of Gujarat, Ajit Pawar – Deputy CM of Maharashtra, Mauvin Godinho – Minister of Transport and Panchayati Raj of Goa, K.N. Balagopal – Minister of Finance of Kerala, Niranjan Pujari – Minister of Finance and Excise of Odisha, T. Harish Rao – Minister of Finance of Telangana, and Suresh Kr. Khanna – Minister of Finance of Uttar Pradesh.
