Maharashtra’s goods and service tax (GST) collection almost doubled this February compared to the corresponding period in 2021, making the state the numero uno across the country, Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Fadnavis was responding to the Opposition’s charges during the budget debate, including the claim that the state’s GST collection was dwindling. He said the Opposition was wrong, because “in February 2021, the state’s GST share was Rs 65,038 crore. It increased to Rs 86,478 crore in February 2022 and by February 2023, it was Rs 1,18,020 crore,” he added.

According to him, Gujarat is on the second spot, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in the national list of GST collection.

Budget allocation

Speaking on budget allocations, Fadnavis alleged that the MVA government discriminated against the Shiv Sena in fund issuance. However, in the new BJP-Shinde Sena regime, 34 per cent share in the budget has been allocated to the departments held by the party, against the previous 15 per cent. “It was because of ‘the caging’ of the Sena that you have been subjected to this day [from the Opposition benches],” he told the MVA, asking its members to recall their common minimum programme that was never implemented.

Cong-NCP stopped OPS

Addressing the issue of the old pension scheme (OPS), which triggered a strike by lakhs of government employees demanding it back, Fadnavis claimed that the Congress-NCP regime stopped OPS in October 2005 when it was in power.

“Vilasrao Deshmukh was the chief minister. Jayant Patil was the finance minister. I don’t want to blame anyone because the decision must have been taken after due diligence.

“If we revive the OPS today, there will be no immediate financial burden, but we have to think as a state. We’re not against the employees. We have formed a three-member committee to study the matter,” he said.

Source: mid-day