Don't charge GST on COVID-19 equipment: Rahul Gandhi to Centre

New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has asked the centre not to charge Goods and Services tax on `small and big` equipment related to COVID-19 treatment, here on Monday.

"In this difficult time of Covid-19, we are constantly demanding from the government that all small and big equipment related to the treatment of this epidemic should be made GST-free," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

Further in his tweet, he said that it would be `wrong to collect GST on sanitisers, masks and other equipment`. 

"To collect GST on sanitizers, soaps, masks, gloves etc. from the people suffering from disease and poverty. It is incorrect. We will stand by the #GSTFreeCorona demand."

With 1,553 fresh cases of coronavirus reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India has reached 17,265, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, here on Monday. 

As many as 2,546 people have recovered from the disease so far, said Aggarwal during the daily media briefing on the coronavirus.