“… many of the donors and agencies have approached the state government to consider exemption of these items from duty/SGST/CGST/IGST,” Ms Banerjee wrote.
Asking for tax waivers on the import of medicines and equipment needed to fight the Covid pandemic, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ms Banerjee called on the Prime Minister to help strengthen health infrastructure and augment supplies of medicines and oxygen for treatment of coronavirus-positive patients in Bengal and across India.
The West Bengal CM said “organisations, individuals and benevolent agencies” had offered aid – from oxygen concentrators and cylinders to cryogenic storage tanks and COVID-19 medicines. She urged the central government to exempt such items from GST and customs duty, so as to “encourage private aid”.
“… many of the donors and agencies have approached the state government to consider exemption of these items from duty/SGST/CGST/IGST. As the rate structure falls under the purview of the centre, I would request that these items may be exempted from GST/customs duty and other such duties and taxes, to help remove supply constraints…” Ms Banerjee wrote.
Mamata Banerjee stressed that donations like these would “greatly supplement the efforts of the state government in meeting the huge gap in demand and supply” of medical resources.
Since being sworn in for a third term on Wednesday, this is Ms Banerjee’s third letter to PM Modi on the Covid crisis in the state.
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