Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], March 9: The Central Government has nominated Uttarakhand Finance Minister Premchand Agarwal as a member of the newly constituted Group of Ministers (GOM), aimed at imposing a special disaster cess in the event of natural calamities.
The GST Council has set up this seven-member group to explore the imposition of a special disaster cess in states hit by natural calamities. The group includes Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna from Uttar Pradesh, Premchand Agarwal from Uttarakhand, Ajanta Neog from Assam, OP Choudhary from Chhattisgarh, Kanubhai Desai from Gujarat, KN Balagopal from Kerala, and Chandrima Bhattacharya from West Bengal.
The GOM will assess the constitutional and legal aspects of imposing a special cess by states to raise revenue in the aftermath of natural disasters. The group will also work on identifying a framework to classify an event as a natural calamity, which would allow states to levy such a cess under the GST regime.
In related news, Uttarakhand was recently struck by an avalanche in Chamoli district on February 28, claiming eight lives. The Indian Army reported that 46 out of 54 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) workers were rescued and are receiving treatment, while eight others tragically lost their lives.