Despite the coronavirus crisis, Haryana has collected more in GST and excise revenue compared to similar periods last year, according to state government figures.
Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Thursday said the state collected Rs 2,563 crore in GST revenue up to October this financial year, compared to Rs 1,543 crore in the corresponding months last year a jump of Rs 1,000 crore.
The record increase, he claimed, showed that the economy is settling down after the disruption caused by the pandemic that broke out earlier this year.
During April 2020, the state’s GST collection had come down to Rs 237 crore, a sharp fall due to the lockdown from Rs 1499.98 crore in the same month last year.
The excise duty collection too is much higher — Rs 570 crore compared to last year’s figure of Rs 402 crore for the first two quarters of this financial year.
In addition, the state government collected Rs 195 crore as ‘Covid cess’ during the same period.
The state procured 8.5 lakh tonnes less paddy compared to last year, which Chautala attributed to farmers opting for crop diversification.
He said the authorities kept a strict watch on paddy being brought illegally into Haryana from neighbouring states. This was also reflected in the lower procurement recorded this year, Chautala told reporters.
Chautala said the state government had bought over 55 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this year till Wednesday through 200 grain markets set up for the procurement.
He said while illegal sale of paddy in state `mandis’ from outside Haryana was checked, 26,000 metric tonnes of paddy was procured from farmers from neighbouring states who had registered on the government portal.
The state government procured five crops at the minimum support price (MSP), totaling Rs 11,813 crore, during Kharif-2020.
Chautala hit out at Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, who had on Wednesday claimed that “mistrust” within the BJP-JJP coalition had surfaced with the ruling combine’s defeat in the recent Baroda assembly bypolls.
He said rather than pointing fingers at the BJP-JJP alliance, the Congress leader must look inwards and see what is happening in his own party.
He also dismissed the argument that entire JJP entire vote did not get transferred to the BJP candidate Yogeshwar Dutt.
Despite his defeat, the BJP nominee got over 20,000 more votes to those polled in the same constituency in the 2019 elections.
What else does this indicate, the Jannayak Janta Party leader asked.
There could be various other factors for the opposition Congress managing to retain the Baroda seat, he said.
