ranchi after central board of excise and customs issued a notification imposing 5 gst on mess charges students staying in such accommodations across the city are worried with over 20000 hostellers across the capital city staying in campus hostels and private offcampus facilities the news has come in as a cause of concernwe already spend a lot of money on food from the mess adding an additional tax might sound nominal but not for students like us who actually walk to college to save a days commuting fare this could add up to a considerable amount in the total expenditure said nidhi singh a student of gossener college in ranchithe messes in ranchi are largely privatelyowned and operated by homemakers or are run as addon to residential hostel facilities a monthlymeal plan consisting of three meals a day will cost anywhere between rs 1500 for vegetarian and rs 6500 for nonvegetarian corporate meal packages in its notification the cbec has clarified supply of food or drink provided by a mess or canteen is taxable at 5 without input tax credit for messes both run by college campuses and outsourced from somewhere else this will not only add up to the prices across college canteens but will also reflect in mess charges for daily mealshowever hostellers are divided over the issue i think the tax shouldnt be a big problem for us yes it will add an extra expenditure of a few hundred rupees to the bill but many students spend a lot of money eating out in restaurants but i think if we are paying a tax for mess food the government must step in and ensure the quality levels of the food served to us added vishal kumar a resident of one of the private hostels in lalpur area