Raman Singh says no opposition to GST

He said the state's loss of revenue should be taken care of

Chhattisgarh has no objection to implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), state Chief Minister Raman Singh said today.

"Chhattisgarh has no objection on GST. We only want that state's loss of revenue is taken care of as there will be annual loss of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore," Singh told reporters here.

The Chief Minister said he had raised the matter earlier with the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

"I had met Pranab Mukherjee, when he was Finance Minister, and urged him to compute the states loss. There has to be a planning and provision to compensate states' loss for five-ten years.

"It (provision for compensation on account of loss of states' revenue) should not be closed after one or two years of its (GST) implementation," Singh said.

The previous UPA government had accused the BJP-ruled states of stalling progress of the GST regime, which is considered to be a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in the country as it would amalgamate a large number of central and state taxes into a single one.

Some days back, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made it clear that he did not have any objection on GST.

The idea of moving towards GST was first mooted by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget for 2006-07. Initially, it was proposed that GST would be introduced by April 1, 2010. However, several deadlines have been missed and it is yet to be rolled out.