‘Goa CM must reject Centre’s options for GST compensation’

PANAJI: Insisting that the Centre has to shoulder the burden of additional borrowing to compensate states for shortfall in GST revenues, opposition leader and former chief minister Digambar Kamat on Thursday demanded that chief minister Pramod Sawant “outrightly reject” the two options given by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for bridging the gap in GST collections.
The Centre owes Goa Rs 1,018 crore as compensation for the shortfall in GST collections since March.
At a special GST council meeting, which was attended by panchayats minister Mauvin Godinho, the Centre offered states the option of borrowing less and getting the compensation later or borrowing more now and repaying the loans using cess collected after 2022, when compensation stops. The decision will be taken on September 8 by the GST council.
Kamat said that as per law, it is the legal and moral responsibility of the Centre to compensate all states for GST revenue shortfall.
“An already bankrupt Goa will not be able to bear the burden of interest on new borrowings for the Centre’s fault,” Kamat said.
Goa’s GST collections have plunged significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a 34% drop in collections seen in August on a year on year basis.
Kamat has blamed the BJP government’s policies for the disaster the economy is in and said that with no economic revival plan in sight, tough times are ahead. “The Central government has completely failed in management of the Covid pandemic as well as the country’s economy,” Kamat said.