hyderabad in a surprising move the state government has directed finance minister etela rajender to represent the state in the 21st gst council meeting to be held at the hyderabad international convention centre hicc here on saturday earlier it was proposed to send municipal minister kt rama rao to the crucial meeting to represent the states case effectivelyhowever on friday it was communicated to the finance minister that since ktr is in delhi and preoccupied with other assignments etela has to attend the council meeting ktr has stayed put in the national capital to receive the rs best it minister in the country award on saturday the trs government has been objecting to the 12 gst on its pet projects and has alre ady made a strong pitch for reduction of gst on irrigation projects mission kakatiya and mission bhagiratha twobedroom housing and other projects to 5 at the last gst council meeting at one stage chief minister kcr even threatened to move court against gst being levied on govern ment projects but after the centre reduced the tax from 18 to 12 the tone and tenor of the trs government too mellowed downoriginally the state go vernment had demanded re duction of gst on all public ut ility programs and welfare schemes to 5 but the union finance ministry is learnt to have raised concerns over the proposal stating that other states too would raise similar demands resulting in a huge loss to the exchequerthe state had initiated projects valued at over rs 2 lakh crore including rs 12 lakh crore of irrigation projects rs 43000 crore on mission bhagiratha and rs 18000 crore on the twobedroom housing programmeall these are proposed for a greater public good taxing them will burden the state government the total burden on telangana would be around rs 9000 crore said etela rajenderin addition to public projects the state also sought reduction of tax on granite and beedi industries citing the huge employment potential of these industries telangana is not alone in seeking exemptions as other states like uttar pradesh rajasthan bihar chhattisgarh and jharkhand too have sought exemptions based on their local needs said an official in the commercial taxes departmentat the meeting on saturday union finance minister arun jaitley is slated to hear the arguments of all states and take a final call on the tax slab for all government works sources said the rates are likely to be revised by 25 putting the final tax rate for government schemes at either 10 or 7along with the finance minister principal secretary somesh kumar and commercial taxes commissioner anil kumar will present the states case on saturday night the telangana government will host a dinner for all dignitaries at taj falaknuma