With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council slated to meet on October 12 to further deliberate on the issue of compensation loss for states, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra attacked the government for its “u-turn” on the promise of making good any losses states will face from GST’s rollout.

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“In February 2018, we had raised the concern of who would borrow in case of shortfall and we were assured that the Centre would raise resources. In March, FM Sitharaman had told that any losses will be compensated,” Mitra said. “But the government did a u-turn,” Mitra said.

On whether he would agree to a vote of state FMs on the issue, Mitra said he hopes it does not come to that.

While BJP-ruled states have agreed to the compensation formula proposed by the Centre, Mitra said many opposition ruled states were against the idea of having to borrow themselves for the time being, as suggested by the Centre.

First Published:Oct 9, 2020 4:53 PM IST