Hours after the 44th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council meeting was concluded today June 12, the state finance minister of West Bengal Amit Mitra wrote a letter of dissent to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the issue of tax rate cut on COVID19 vaccines and medical supplies.
“To address this vital issue, I proposed to you two consecutive alternatives in respect of GST, on COVID preventive materials, similar to several other Ministers. The first was to zero-rate COVID related materials for a limited period of time, keeping in view keeping in view the possibility of a third wave…” Mitra wrote to Sitharaman.
Explained: What is ‘long COVID’ — how is vaccination expected to affect such patients?
In his letter protesting against the decision, Mitra added that as an alternative he had proposed a 0.1 per cent GST on the vaccines and medical supplies but his voice was ignored in the meeting.
“This is totally an anti-people decision that is being thrust on us at the GST Council. As representatives of the people, we have no way to justify these decisions of draconian nature,” Mitra added.
Meanwhile, in the meeting, it has been decided to waive the GST for two vital drugs used in the treatment of COVID19 and black fungus (mucormycosis) — Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B. Also, tax rates have been reduced to 5 per cent on 14 major pandemic relief goods, including testing kits and hand sanitisers, from earlier rates that used to be between 12 per cent to 18 per cent.
Also Read: Explained: What is the third wave of COVID19? Will it hit India? Are kids at greater risk?
India has registered a sharp increase in mucormycosis cases. From 5,424 cases on May 24 in India, mucormycosis cases have jump to 28,252 on June 7. “Out of this 86 per cent cases are having history of covid, 62.3 per cent are having history of diabetes,” said Harsh Vardhan, Union health minister, had informed in a meeting with a group of ministers on June 7.
