600 Cr GST Collected in Pondy Says Lt Governor

600 Cr GST Collected in Pondy Says Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, stated on Tuesday that the Department of GST (goods and services tax) of the Central Excise in Puducherry collected Rs 600 crore this year, the first time such income has been generated in the Union Territory. The Lt Governor said over 8,000 businesses contributed to the GST, which she claimed was commendable, as she flagged off a bike rally by Central Excise personnel and workers here to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's independence. She hailed the GST department for its exceptional income collection, saying Puducherry was now forging ahead in every sphere of developmental activity. Soundarararajan later told reporters that no part of the public should stage agitations at hospitals, including JIPMER. According to the Lt Governor, there was no imposition of Hindi in JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research), as some political parties claimed. "During the COVID-19 incident, JIPMER behaved well. Patients from the Union Territory and Tamil Nadu are served. There was ineffective propaganda that JIPMER was being forced to use Hindi "she stated Source: PTI