Punjab CM writes to Amit Shah, seeks interim compensation of Rs 3,000 crore

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking interim compensation of Rs 3,000 crore for April on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the letter to Shah, Singh also asked for expediting the release of the state's GST arrears of Rs 4400 crore for the last four months, to help the state overcome its resource constraint.

"The Government of India should compensate Punjab for its loss of revenue due to COVID-19. While the Rs 3,000 crore for April was an estimate, detailed assessment of loss and requirement of funds for relief and rehabilitation will be submitted in due course," an official statement said.

However, he stressed, that the Government of India should provide interim assistance so that the fight against COVID-19 is not allowed to weaken in any way.

"Punjab is facing huge stress on state exchequer on account of the required health and relief measures that are being continuously scaled up, with hardly any revenue receipts accruing to the state during these days due to near-complete shutdown of trade, business, and industry," the statement said.

"The state government had made a provision of revenue receipts of Rs 3360 crore for the month of April 2020 in the state budget 2020-21. These included: GST - Rs 1322 crore; VAT on Petroleum products - Rs 465 crore; State Excise Revenue - Rs 521 crore, Motor Vehicle Tax - Rs 198 crore; Electricity Duty - Rs 243 crore, Stamp duty - Rs 219 crore, and Non-tax revenue - Rs 392 crore," it added.

However, Singh said that these receipts are expected to decline sharply as most economic activities in the State remain closed on account of the lockdown.

The GST compensation of approximately Rs 4,400 crore for the last four months - from December 2019 to March 2020 - was also pending for disbursement by the union government, he said.

He said that committed expenditure of the state including debt servicing, pensions, salaries, relief measures for COVID-19, health care and infrastructure, etc is budgeted at Rs 7,301 crore for the month of April 2020, resulting in the huge resource gap between the anticipated receipts and committed expenditure.

Captain Amarinder Singh also sought the Centre's permission to allow the sale of liquor, in a phased manner, to mop up VAT and Excise revenue.

The Ministry of Home, GoI, should allow the state to make a conscious decision to allow the sale of liquor in certain areas in a phased manner with strict social distancing and other measures to prevent COVID-19, he said.

( With inputs from ANI )