State to seek its due GST share from Centre: Oraon

Dhritiman Ray | TNN | Apr 4, 2020, 05:00 IST

Ranchi: The state government will request the the Centre to release its pending share of GST and central taxes, finance minister Rameshwar Oraon said on Friday. “We need money to procure equipment, protective gear for our front line staff in this fight against coronavirus,” Oraon said. “The Center has not given Jharkhand its share for the months of December, January, February and March. We will urge them to release the money at once,” he added.
Sources in the revenue department said Jharkhand’s monthly GST share is between Rs 300 crore to Rs 375 crore.
Besides mobilising funds to combat the pandemic, Jharkhand will press for its share as the projected revenue collection in the first few months of the first quarter of 2020-21 financial year reflects a poor scenario. “With the lockdown hitting the economy hard, collections may run dry in a few months. Soon, it may become difficult to pay salaries to the government employees. The situation can improve after August if things are under control,” an official said. The department also hinted that the state might also seek a share from the Rs 3 lakh crore dividend which the Centre had collected from RBI recently.
Meanwhile, Congress on Friday said it has launched a centralised control room for its party workers and volunteers to keep track of the food grain availability at panchayat, block and district levels. “Besides the government doing its bit, our party will monitor the scenario on ground constantly and help the needy in getting ration during the lockdown,” Oraon said.