Rs 1,237 crore sanctioned as grants-in-aid to Punjab govt

Badal thanked Sitharaman for keeping her promise to release Goods and Services Tax (GST) arrears and appreciated her for her “fair play”.

The Union finance ministry has sanctioned Rs1,237 crore as grants-in-aid to Punjab from pending arrears accrued to the state for the two previous fiscal years after revenue for the base year was revised, a government official said on Saturday.

Police and health workers during a visit to a home where covid-19 positive cases emerged. (Ravi Kumar/Hindustan Times)

“The sum is arrears for the loss of revenue in the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19 because of the revision of 2015-16 revenue, which is the base year,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

In a letter to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said: “The financial support has come at a critical time when we are confronted with meeting the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced.”

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He added in the letter reviewed by HT: “It has emboldened our faith in Almighty that no matter what the odds are there is always someone out there wanting to lend a helping hand just when you begin to feel than none exists.”

Badal thanked Sitharaman for keeping her promise to release Goods and Services Tax (GST) arrears and appreciated her for her “fair play”. He wrote, “In retrospect I feel that the delay has turned out to be a blessing in disguise allowing us to obtain this reserve when it would be most needed.”

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He was responding to a Union finance ministry order dated April 8 to the Pay and Accounts Officer at the revenue department about the payment of Rs1,237 crore as grants-in-aid to the Punjab government.

“Taking into account the payment of this amount and earlier release of ad-hoc GST compensation amounts of Rs4,618 crore and Rs8,239 crore, respectively, for financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19, the total release of GST compensation to Punjab for the period from July 2017 to March 2019 becomes Rs14,094 crore,” the official cited above said.

This release of non-plan grant is arrears of GST compensation for the fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19, worked out according to the entitlement of the state government on the basis of revision of base year 2015-16 revenue, and is subject to certified figures for fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19 to be provided by the Punjab government, the official said.