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Harsimrat Badal asks govt to waive State GST on langar purchases in Punjab

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Nimrat Kaur
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Harsimrat Badal asks govt to waive State GST on langar purchases in Punjab
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Harsimrat Badal asks govt to waive State GST on langar purchases in Punjab

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Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said now that the central government had decided that all religious and charitable institutions would not be burdened with GST on langar, it was high time the Punjab government also announced a complete waiver on State GST on such institutions on the pattern done by the SAD-BJP government under the leadership of S Parkash Singh Badal.

In a statement here, the union minister said the central government’s decision to give the historic GST relief to religious and charitable institutions was a landmark decision which ensured that no institution serving the cause of humanity need pay additional taxes.

She said in stark contrast the Congress government in Punjab had announced to waive off State GST on purchases made for Shri Darbar Sahib in the Vidhan Sabha but failed to honour this pledge. “The Punjab government should immediately announce a waiver of State GST on langar purchases done by all religious and charitable institutions on the central patter to respect the sentiments of the people”.

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Asking the Congress government not to practice deceit by making promises and dishonouring them as it had done in the case of farm loan waiver also, Mrs Badal said this was not the only example of opportunistic Congress politics.

She said the Congress government was refusing to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel, which was the highest in North India, even as the Pradesh Congress was conducting dharnas to demand reduction on central excise on petroleum products. “Is is not strange that just like in the case of GST on langar, the Congress government refuses to do what is in its hands by reducing VAT on petrol and diesel”, she added.

Speaking about nit picking being done by few Congress stooges on the GST relief given by the centre, Mrs Badal said it was for the first time in the history of the country that a central government was refunding a central tax to religious and charitable organizations on the same pattern as done by S Parkash Singh Badal who waived VAT on langar items.

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 “Instead of welcoming this and asking the Congress government to broad base this relief, she said the stooges were not even protesting as to why the Punjab government had not even announced to waive State GST on langar purchases made by the two other Takths of Talwandi Sabo and Kesgarh Sahib”, Mrs Badal added.

Explaining the entire issue, Mrs Badal said pre-GST maximum retail price (MRP) was always paid on all langar items. “This included the central excise tax which was paid by the manufacturing company to the central government but charged as part of MRP from buyers. This regime has been in existence since the last seventy years and was applicable on all religious and charitable institutions.

Congress front men who have been thrown out of religious institutions by the sangat should tell the Sikh community why they never asked for this exemption or refund since the last seventy years? They should have protested against dispensations who were taxing the religious institutions instead of those who have set things right and given this relief”, she added.

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