'Akali Dal will protest, if Congress MLAs don't stop imposition of Gunda Tax,' says Sukhbir Badal
Talking about the imposition of “gunda tax” on transportation of goods to and from Bathinda refinery, Shiromani Akali Dal President, Sukhbir Singh Badal in a statement on Thursday said that if the 'Gunda Tax' is not stopped by the Congress MLAs then they will not shy away from protesting themselves. Sukhbir Singh Badal said, 'The MLA’s are interfering in the affairs of the development of Bathinda refinery project that is being executed by various construction companies. The Congress MLAs are harassing contractors by imposing Gunda tax.' “This protection money or gunda tax should be called JST — Jojo Service Tax — after Jojo, the brother-in-law of Manpreet, who is leading the cartel of Congressmen demanding this unlawful tax from transporters. It is being done under the protection of the Finance Minister,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Wednesday in a rally. 'If the truck costs 40,000, they have imposed a gunda tax of 20,000 on each truck, and in some case a tax of about 50 percent of the cost is imposed. They have forcibly started imposing taxes and harassing,' Sukhbir Badal added. 'We will not let the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, Bathinda suffer,' he said. Stating he spoke with the Deputy Commissioner regarding the Gunda Tax, he said, 'We will not let the refinery go in losses or suffer in any way, because if the investment is lost and the contractors are harassed, it will come across as a major setback to Punjab.' 'I urge the Chief Minister of Punjab to stop its MLA's from imposing Gunda Tax or else Punjab will have a bad reputation and suffer major consequences. We will appeal to the DC and SSP in Punjab to get the refinery in Bathinda rid of Gunda Tax, but if still they continue, Akali Dal will not shy away from protesting.' Sukhbir Badal said. -PTC News
