‘If AG certificates not cleared, onus on Centre’
kolkata: State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya lashed out at the Centre for not clearing Bengal’s due GST compensation to the tune of Rs 2,409 crore.
She further informed that the cumulative growth of the state’s GST collection till January has been 24.46 per cent in comparison to the last fiscal.
“We are perplexed at the contradictory statements given by the Union Finance minister regarding denial of payment of GST compensation to Bengal. On one hand, it was claimed that GST compensation has not been cleared due to non-submission of accountant general (AG) certificates and on the other hand, it was claimed that Rs 834 crore for the month of June 2022, will only be cleared as rest of the dues till May 2022 has already been paid. However, the hard fact remains that compensation to the tune of Rs 2409 crore has not been received as yet,” Bhattacharya said, addressing a special session on ‘Bengal’s Fiscal Health in Post Pandemic: Road Ahead,’ organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
She claimed that if AG certificates have not been cleared then the responsibility for the same rests upon the Centre as the latter issues
such certificates.
“All necessary documents on our part has been submitted to the Centre,” Bhattacharya said
She reiterated that Bengal has witnessed a significant improvement in the GST return filing with 95 per cent returns this year in comparison to previous year’s 70 per cent.
The GST growth in the last fiscal was 23 per cent and it has further improved this year with cumulative growth of 24.46 per cent till January this year.”
Bhattacharya said that the rebate on stamp duty and circle rate announced by the state government has created a record with 34 lakh registrations being done from July 2021 to December 2022 in the real estate sector.
“The financial credit linkage to the SHGs has grown to 6.77 lakh from 93425 in 2010, which shows the Mamata Banerjee government’s encouragement to the SHGs,” she remarked.
Bhattacharya claimed that if the nation does good then every state feels proud as the country is a union of states as per Indian Constitution.
“However, when Bengal is lauded globally for schemes like Kanyashree, Sabooj Sathi or for Durga Puja making it into Unesco’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Centre does not heave praise upon the state,” she rued.
