Kejriwal meets Sitharaman, urges to clear Rs 3,000 cr pending IGST dues of Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday called on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at her North Block office, urging her to clear Rs 3,000 crore pending integrated goods and services tax (IGST) dues of Delhi.

Congratulating Sitharaman on assuming the important charge of Finance Minister, Kejriwal requested her to clear Rs 3,000 crore pending integrated goods and services tax (IGST) dues of Delhi. The IGST dues for the first year of the roll-out of the indirect tax in 2017-18 (FY18) are still pending.

The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister told the Finance Minister that Delhi contributes around Rs 1.5 lakh crore as Income Tax towards the Central exchequer, however in return Delhi gets merely Rs 325 crore as share in central taxes, which too has been frozen since nearly two decades. In comparison, the share of other states in central taxes is quite high.

The Chief Minister told the Finance Minister that the more the Centre invests in Delhi, it will lead to a boom in the economy here and Delhiites will provide more tax collections to the Centre.

Sitharaman was also apprised of the fact that the Centre provides grants to states for the civic bodies, however, Delhi has been deprived of this and therefore the Municipal Corporations are not getting any help from the Centre.

Both Sisodia and Kejriwal urged her to provide funds for the Municipal Corporations to improve their financial conditions.

The Delhi Ministers assured her of full cooperation from the Delhi government and stressed upon the need for the two governments to work together for the betterment and further development of the national capital.

Kejriwal said the goal of his government is to tirelessly work for the welfare of Delhi.