'No bachat utsav but chapat utsav': Congress claims benefits of GST rate cuts not reaching people
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday cited a media report which claimed that the prices of several products were hiked by big firms before the GST rate reduction and asked what is the point if the benefits of the cuts were not reaching the common people.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared a media report on X which said that the Centre reduced the GST rate on food items from 12 per cent to 5 per cent from September 22, and consumers should have benefited directly from this, but the reality is quite the opposite.
The report claimed that as soon as major companies learned of the tax cut, they increased the prices of their products by up to 10 per cent, providing little relief to the general public.
In his post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said it was not "bachat utsav (savings festival)" but "chapat utsav (fleecing festival)" that had been ushered in.
Instead of GST reform, "event-oriented Prime Minister's promotion" had been done, he claimed.
"If the benefits of GST rate cuts are not directly reaching the general public, then what is the point?" Ramesh said.
Last Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asserted that the GST reforms will accelerate India's growth story, emphasising that it is a big and important step for Aatmanirbhar Bharat and linking a boost to 'swadeshi' products to the country's prosperity.
Addressing the nation, Modi said the reduced prices of items across the board will launch "bachat utsav" for people.
New lower GST rates kicked in from last Monday, resulting in a slashing of prices of as many as 375 items ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to cars and television sets, a move seen as an attempt to boost consumption to cushion an economy facing tariff headwinds.
Tax rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent have been clubbed into two rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, resulting in a reduced price of 99 per cent of daily use items.
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Five railway staffers injured as van headed to Rajdhani Express fire site overturns in MP
Ratlam (MP) (PTI): Five railway staffers were injured, one of them critically, when their van carrying repair equipment to the site of a Rajdhani Express fire overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district on Sunday, officials said.
The blaze erupted in an AC coach of the Delhi-bound Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express between Vikramgarh Alot and Lunirichha stations under the Kota division of the railways in Ratlam at 5.15 am.
It disrupted the movement of several trains on the Mumbai-Delhi route, as per the officials.
A van carrying necessary equipment to Alot overturned on the way when a cow suddenly strayed into the middle of the road, they said.
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Five railwaymen were injured, one of them critically, the officials said.
The incident took place when the van carrying essential equipment for overhead electric line repair, among other things, was on its way to Alot from Shyamnagar in Ratlam, West Central Railway's chief public relations officer Harshit Shrivastava told PTI.
The injured persons were rushed to the hospital and were subsequently referred to Kota in Rajasthan, officials said.
No casualties were reported in the train fire.
