Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday, 23 May, said the state would be losing about Rs 35,000 crore tax revenue due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
Speaking to reporters in Salem, where he was presiding over a two-day meeting, Chief Minister Palaniswami said the finance department has estimated a tax revenue loss of about Rs 35,000 crore and that during the months of April and May and for the last seven days of March, the state's share of GST (Good and Service Tax) has come down. The chief minister had chaired a meeting with the district administration officials in Salem.
He also said that although the central government has allocated some funds, which the state was receiving in instalments, that was not what the state government had asked for. He also added that the central government has assured that the state's share of GST will be given.
Palaniswami also said the state government is taking all necessary developmental actions so that employment generation is intact. He added that the government was taking all austerity measures to tide over the novel coronavirus crisis, and that this will not affect the developmental plans in the state.
Chief Minister also added that the decision to hold class 10 board exams in the state on 15 June was taken based on public request and that it will be conducted as per the central government's directions.
Regarding the lockdown relaxations after 31 May, he said that it will be based on central government’s announcement. Based on the medical expert committee’s recommendations, action will be taken, he added.
Rejecting opposition leader MK Stalin’s allegation that the state had failed to tackle the spread of COVID-19, chief minister pointed out that Tamil Nadu had the highest number of testing facilities in the country. Tamil Nadu has 66 testing labs, which includes 41 government and 27 private centres.
The state also leads in the number of samples tested in a day. On 23 May, this number was 12,155 and so far the state has tested 3,97,340 samples.
(The article was originally published in The News Minute and has been reposted with permission.)
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