U.T. opposes GST on petroleum products
The Hindu
It will hit the revenue of State governments: Minister
The Union Territory has opposed the inclusion of petroleum products under the purview of Goods and Services Tax.
The Union Territory’s case against the inclusion of petrol and diesel under the GST was made by Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan, who represented Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who holds the Finance portfolio, at the GST Council meeting on Friday.
Mr. Lakshminarayanan, in his representation which was released to the media here, said, “For implementation of GST, State governments have surrendered their fiscal autonomy. At present, the State governments have autonomy only in taxing petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and alcohol.”
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.