TN plans Rs 2K/ration card Deepavali bonanza

Recently, Finance Secretary S Krishanan and Secretary of Commercial Taxes Beela Rajesh met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her recent visit to the city and urged the Centre to release the GST dues, according to sources.

“Sitharaman too had reportedly agreed to release Rs 3,000 crore to TN, which the State plans to distribute to public during Deepavali,” an official said.

The State government had announced the lockdown on March 24 following which all commercial establishments were closed and lakhs lost their livelihood. To compensate them for loss of livelihood, the government had distributed Rs 1,000 per ration card in April and had been providing free ration since.

However, with the government facing severe financial crunch due to the pandemic, it had been urging the Centre to release the pending GST compensation amount. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote several DO letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over releasing more than Rs 14,000 crore out of which Rs 12,000 crore was the GST dues. The Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, during the 41st and 42nd GST council meetings, had also urged the Centre to pay the compensation.

Following up on the demands, officials here had urged Sitharaman to consider the demands of the State government. Sources said that the government is eagerly awaiting the release of the Rs 3,000 crore fund and as soon as it comes, the government will officially announce the distribution scheme.