Bhubaneswar: Disbursement of Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation by the Centre to Odisha has triggered a political row with the Congress questioning the silence of the state government over amount of the compensation which the party says is ‘less’.
The Union government has released Rs 5,122 crore as GST compensation to Odisha recently.
“There are norms which say about timely payment of GST compensation to the state. Also, I’m surprised to see why the state prefers to keep silence on the payment which is less,” said party’s leader Panchanan Kanungo.
The BJP said the central flow of funds has only increased with the time including those of several central government schemes.
State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said, “The Centre is giving its handholding support to the state through several schemes. It has also increased assistance to the state through GST compensation. It has helped the state by providing several other financial assistances too.”
Meanwhile, the ruling BJD seems to be unhappy with the compensation amount and urged the Centre for timely payment of the compensation especially during such times.
BJD legislator Sashi Bhushan Behera said that the Centre must release the pending dues to the state as soon as possible keeping in mind the financial crunch triggered by the Covid-19 crisis.