PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the recently reconstituted group of ministers (GoM) on real estate sector were of the opinion that the Good and Service Tax (GST) on housing should be bare minimum to make housing affordable for the common man. The final decision will be taken at the next meeting which will take place in Goa either on Sep 23 or 24, said Sawant, who heads the GoM.
This was one of the issues chiefly discussed in the (GoMs) meeting on Thursday, Sawant said. GoMs, Sawant said, also laid the thrust on the need to boost the real estate sector under GST.
Sawant also said that three major issues discussed at the meeting included; GST on properties leased by govt for more than 30 years, issues dealing with housing societies and whether to impose GST on redevelopment projects.
He said that this was the first meeting held after four years.
The chief minister also said that another issue discussed was whether a minimum GST should be imposed on houses which have undergone redevelopment and that the state govt has been asked to provide data on housing societies and industrial plots. “West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra have submitted their proposals. All states have been asked to submit the redevelopment schemes and revenue losses for each state.”
“Various issues related to the real estate sector and submissions of state governments were discussed. The council decided to obtain updated data from all states on each agenda point for studying the detailed revenue implications and other issues and then decide on each issue,” Sawant said.
Referring to Dabolim airport, Sawant said that he will go to Delhi again to meet the defence minister and urge him to allocate more slots at Dabolim airport for airlines.
The chief minister on Thursday urged Union civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu to stop domestic airlines from shifting their operations from Dabolim airport to Manohar International Airport at Mopa. He asked the minister to authorise new international flights for Dabolim and to reduce parking fees as well as user development fees. These measures, Sawant told the minister, will help the airport sustain operations.
