The North Eastern states have scripted a success story in the collection and devolution of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday.
According to the 2023 RBI report on state finances, the eight NE states have registered a compounded annual GST hike of 27.5 per cent, she said.
Sitharaman was speaking at the Investiture Ceremony for conferring the Presidential Award for Specially Distinguished Record of Service’ to officers and staff of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
Assam was the first state to ratify the GST Act, four days after it was passed and since then there has been 12 times increase in the collection of taxes, the minister said.
Assam’s sales tax collection prior to the implementation of the GST was Rs 558.26 crore but this has increased manifold to Rs 7,097 crore.
Sikkim and Meghalaya too have registered a significant achievement with the former’s collection increasing from Rs 263.5 crore to Rs 3,036 crore and the latter’s from Rs 587.21 crore to Rs 2,078 crore, she said.
”GST has brought about a significant improvement in the system which has not only benefited the states but ultimately the people as well”, Sitharaman said.
The North East has borders with four countries and there are 25 functional Land Customs Stations (LCS), out of which only 15 have electronic facilities.
She urged the officials to ensure that by December, the remaining LCSs also have electronic facilities which will help detect and stop smuggling.
The Union minister is on a two-day visit to Assam and Tripura.
Speaking on Manipur, Sitharaman said that the state must come out of the present crisis and all must make efforts to restore peace.
The incident of women being disrobed and paraded is “a serious and sensitive issue. The state is passing through a difficult phase and all communities are suffering there,” the minister said on the sidelines of a programme.
“Manipur is a beautiful state and it has to come out of the crisis and honestly, all of us will have to make efforts to bring back peace to the state,” she said.
“This kind of incident hurts each one of us and there is no word with which we can explain or address the issue,” she said.
The perpetrators will have to be caught and some arrests have already been made yesterday, the minister said.
“I am sure all efforts will be made to punish the perpetrators,” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Thursday on how the nation hangs its head in shame for what happened in Manipur, Sitharaman pointed out.
