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Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala lauded the Centre for reducing tax rates on medical equipment and related items amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"Reducing the tax on items related to Covid with a uniform tax system across the country will help in tackling the pandemic," said the Deputy Chief Minister in an official statement. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting held on Saturday under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, accepted the demands of Harayana, said Chautala. Taking to Twitter, Chautala expressed his gratitude and wrote, "Attended the 44th GST Council meeting today. My gratitude to the entire Council for accepting Haryana's request to extend all Covid related benefits upto 30/09/21 and reducing the tax rate on Gas/Electric/other furnaces for crematorium, including their installation etc. to 5 per cent." The Central government has also reduced the exiting 28 per cent tax on ambulances to 12 per cent. "In the present times ambulances are an important part of health services for timely admission of critical patients in hospitals. In view of this, the GST Council has reduced the tax on ambulances from 28 per cent earlier to 12 per cent. Similarly, the tax on thermometers has also been reduced to 5 per cent," Chautala said. The Deputy Chief Minister also said that the GST Council has accepted all the suggestions of the six-member committee of 'Group of Ministers' which was constituted to determine the GST on Covid-related items. "The state of Haryana had given two suggestions, firstly in relation to extending the time limit for exemption of GST rate on Covid goods and secondly to reduce the existing tax on electric crematoriums," read the statement. He further informed that as suggested by the state, the exemption limit on GST was increased from August 31 to September 30. Moreover, the second suggestion with regard to the existing tax on electric crematorium, the tax has been reduced to 5 per cent. As per the media bulletin on Covid-19, Haryana reported 539 fresh cases, 1,221 recoveries, and 32 deaths on Saturday. There are 6,365 active Covid-19 cases in the state. (ANI)
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