ITANAGAR: Chowna Mein Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday declared that the Arunachal government accept opinion regarding exemption/reduction of the GST tax on Covid-19-related essential  items with the advice of the group of ministers (GoM)

Through videoconference Chowna Mein attend 44th GST Council meeting which was  held under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Union MoS for Finance Anurag Thakur, along with the finance ministers of states and union territories and senior officers of the finance ministry also attended the summit.

The GoM was constituted with Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma as its convener by the GST Council earlier to examine the need for further relief on Covid-19-related items.

During the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh said that the GoM had taken careful note that the domestic producers and supply chains should not suffer and thus did not suggest zero score or lowered the charge to 0.1 percent.

Mein  articulated approval for the GoM’s decision to free from GST on essential drugs like Amphotericin B and Tocilizumab, to cut GST from 12 percent to 5 percent for other medicines like Remdesivir, Heparin and similar anti-coagulant medicines, decrease of GST rates on medical grade oxygen, oxygen concentrators and pulse oximeters, including personal imports thereof from 12 percent to 5 percent, and decrease of GST on ventilators, ventilator masks/cannula/helmet, BiPAP machine and high flow nasal cannula, which are also critical for Covid-19 management, to 5 percent till 31 August, 2021.

The DCM also well-versed that Arunachal welcomes the recommendation of the GoM for decrease of GST rate on personal imports of concentrators, hand sanitizers, temperature check equipment, texting kits for D-dimer, IL-6, Ferritin, LDH, gas/electric/other furnaces (incinerators) for use in crematoriums till 31 August as a short-term measure.

The council firm to reduce the GST tax on the specific items being used in Covid-19 relief and management till 30 September. The information of proposals are given below: