DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Sunday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urging the Centre to consider exempting GST on oxygen concentrators to make these machines more affordable for the public amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic. "As we know that most of the oxygen concentrators are not produced domestically and large quantities of such concentrators are being imported presently in view of the current pandemic crisis, I request you to consider exempting GST on oxygen concentrators for the time being thereby making oxygen concentrators more affordable for the public," Chautala wrote in his letter, which he put on his Twitter handle. In his letter, the Jannayak Janta Party leader, whose party is a coalition partner of the BJP in Haryana, conveyed his gratitude to the Government of India for slashing the Integrated GST rate on oxygen concentrators for personal use to 12 per cent, from 28 per cent earlier, for two months. This reduced IGST rate for imports of concentrators for personal use shall be applicable up to June 30. The government had last month waived customs duty on import of medical grade oxygen, oxygen concentrator and related equipment. Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the tax levied on consumption of goods or rendering of service is split 50:50 between the Centre and the state. On interstate movement of goods as well as imports, an Integrated-GST or IGST is levied, which accrues to the Centre. The amount paid as IGST can be utilised by businesses for claiming credit while making CGST or SGST payments at the time of actual sale. The government on Friday had allowed imports of oxygen concentrators for personal use through post, courier or e-commerce portals under the gift category amid increasing demand for oxygen due to rising COVID-19 cases. (editor@dailyworld.in)