New Delhi: Ahead of the 43rd Goods and Services Tax (GST) meeting scheduled for today, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday demanded that the centre remove GST from all life-saving medicines and equipment being used in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader shared a list of GST applicable on 15 items ranging from Alchohol bases hand sanitisers, hand wash, soaps, cotton mask, PPE kits, to COVID-19 vaccine, Remdesivir and other COVID drugs and ventilators and artificial respiration devices, and said collecting taxes from affected people is cruel and insensitive.
“At the time of the pandemic, collecting GST from people troubled for COVID related products like ambulances, beds, ventilators, oxygen, medicines, vaccines, is cruelty and insensitivity. Today in the GST Council, the government should remove GST on all life-saving medicines and equipment being used in the fight against COVID,” she tweeted.
The Congress leader has been a vocal critic of the BJP-led Central government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, she asked why is India, one of the largest manufacturers of vaccines in the world, facing a scarcity today? questioning the centre for its management of the COVID-19 vaccination process.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to chair the 43rd Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting through video conferencing at 11 am on Friday.
GST Council is the apex body that takes decisions regarding issues of threshold limit for applicability of the tax as well as the limit for dual control between centre and States.