Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh will launch a month-long awareness campaign on the benefits of GST 2.0, the revised Goods and Services Tax announced by the Centre, chief secretary K Vijayanand said on Thursday.
The campaign will run from Dasara to Deepavali and reach every village, town, mandal, constituency and district headquarters. “Just as YogaAndhra was successfully organised in June, this too will be taken to the people at the grassroots level,” Vijayanand told officials at a sensitisation meeting in the Secretariat.
He said GST 2.0, which came into effect on September 22, may cost the state around Rs 8,000 crore in revenue but will ease the burden on households. A government order on the campaign will be issued immediately, he added. A video conference with district collectors is scheduled on Friday to finalise the rollout.4
Chief comissioner of state taxes Babu A gave a detailed presentation, outlining 65,000 awareness events across the state. The campaign will move in weekly phases. Focus on households and essential goods, including food, medicines, stationery, clothing, transport items from September 25–29.
From September 25–29, sessions will highlight household essentials such as food, medicines, stationery, clothing and transport. Between September 30–October 6, the focus will shift to agriculture, aquaculture, MSMEs, weavers, handicrafts, packaging and personal services like salons and gyms.
From October 7–13, sessions will cover education, digital technology, insurance, electronics, entrepreneurship, e-commerce and the gig economy. Between October 14–18, awareness programs will target construction, tourism, logistics, renewable energy, automobiles, toys and sports goods.
The campaign will conclude on October 19, the day before Deepavali, with statewide programmes under the theme Vikas Viswas – Reliable Development.
To ensure accountability, nodal officers and local officials will act as “GST Champions” at each administrative level, from districts down to village secretariats. The outreach will also include mass media, social media, hoardings and outdoor events.
Senior officials, including special chief secretaries S S Rawat, RP Sisodia, B Rajasekhar, M T Krishna Babu, and principal secretaries Mukesh Kumar Meena, Piyush Kumar and Katamaneni Bhaskar took part in the meeting. Several others joined virtually.
