Financial crisis: Punjab govt eying on GST arrears from Centre
Chandigarh: The AAP government has now banked on the arrears of crores of rupees of GST compensation for temporary relief from the financial crisis. The Punjab government is hopeful that if the Centre resolves the issue of old arrears of GST compensation, it could fetch Punjab Rs 5,000 crore.
At present, the state government is struggling with a lack of financial resources.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema yesterday held meetings in Delhi to calculate the old arrears of GST compensation.
The Punjab government is now engaged in settling with the Central government the pending GST compensation of about Rs 5,000 crore from 2017-18 to 2021-22 during the previous regime.
The state government believes that if the central government settles this amount, then the financial condition of the state can be corrected. The Punjab government claims that Punjab owes an estimated Rs 5,000 crore to the Centre, while the Central government is estimating it at Rs 3,000 crore. There is a gap of about 2000 crores.
The Punjab government’s argument is that the central government’s formula of giving compensation to the state was wrong.
A team of top officials of the Finance Department led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema today discussed the matter with Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu.
The team has pointed fingers at the shortcomings in the meeting on the basis of which the Centre has calculated the number of GST compensation.