Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has demanded that the Centre should share the Central Cess collections with State to support the fight against Covid pandemic.
Patnaik, in a letter to the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, has said that the additional resources raised through various Cess and Surcharge on petrol, diesel, liquor etc. which are exclusively available to the union government may be suitably shared with States at this critical juncture for long sustained effort required to fight Covid19 pandemic.
The chief minister has also urged the union finance minister to waive of GST on Covid vaccine as States are required to purchase the vaccine directly from the producers.
