Jakhar threatens protest against Centre’s ‘step-motherly treatment’

Chandigarh Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Thursday slammed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre for the delay in release of the goods and services tax (GST) compensation and arrears totalling Rs 4,100 crore to Punjab.

Jakhar said the Union government should stop treating Punjab in a step-motherly manner. “The Narendra Modi government is acting contrary to the basic spirit and ethics of the country’s federal structure. It first implemented a flawed GST in haste. Now, the states are not being compensated for the losses incurred by them in the new GST system” he said in a statement.

Demanding immediate release of GST dues, the PPCC president said if the central government continued its policy of discrimination against Punjab, the Congress would be forced to go to Delhi to stage a protest out the Parliament. He said the central government’s decision of demonetisation, imposition of faulty GST and wrong economic policies had led to recession in every sector across the country. “Due to this, GST collections in the states have declined sharply. Punjab has a GST revenue gap of 44%. This is not just the problem of Punjab. All the states are in distress with GST revenue gap of 40% in Himachal Pradesh and 24% in Haryana,” he added.

Jakhar said that chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh would raise the issue at the government level with the Prime Minister’s office and the Congress would also raise its voice against the Centre on all platforms to expose them.