Nitish Kumar thanks Centre for exempting 'Langar' items from GST

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday expressed gratitude towards the Centre for agreeing to exempt from GST items used in community kitchens at Gurudwaras and other religious places.

"Expressing my gratitude to Central government for taking a positive step and accepting our request for giving exemptions to the raw materials used in langar and religious places under GST," Kumar posted on his official twitter handle.

The chief minister tagged the post to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, besides sharing screenshot of a newspaper report relating to the decision of the Centre.

Kumar had on April 12 written to Jaitley urging him that the GST council, headed by the Union Finance Minister, grant exemption to ingredients like ghee, edible oils, sugar etc. used in preparing food for at "langars".

Kumar had made the request saying Gurudwaras are engaged in charitable activities.

Bihar is home to many Gurudwaras, most notable of them being the Takht Harmandir Patna Sahib here, situated in a locality where Guru Gobind Singh is said to have been born and spent his childhood.