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PATIALA: With the GST Council meeting on Saturday not considering tax exemptions on food items purchased for langar and prashad by religious institutions like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC ), the mini parliament of the Sikhs is now contemplating protests against the Centre.

Besides SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar , various politicians too, had communicated with finance minister Arun Jaitley , seeking GST waiver for the SGPC.

Badungar said there were indications that the GST Council would waive off the tax but the issue was not even discussed in the meeting. He said the SGPC would take up this matter at the next meeting of its executive and chalk out detailed plan to hold protests against the Union government.

“The SGPC anticipates an additional tax burden of Rs 10 crore per annum for running its langar sewa, with further Rs 3 crore tax levy on langars being run at various charity institutions such as Pingalwaras,” said the president.

Badungar said the SGPC was born after a long Sikh struggle, and if the need arises, it would not desist taking to struggle against ‘unfair tax.’

Reiterating that the GST was ‘God Service Tax’, Badungar said, repeated pleas before the Prime Minister and the Union finance minister had failed to yield desired results. The Union government was working against the hopes and aspirations of the Sikh community, he alleged.

In his letters, the SGPC chief had requested that it be granted the GST exemption on langar purchases the way it was granted an exemption from the VAT. He said under previous tax regime all langar items purchased at Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Sri Amritsar Sahib, Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib, Shri Anandpur Sahib and Takht Sri Damdama Sahib were exempted from VAT.

He said the SGPC was involved in spreading the message of universal brotherhood, tolerance and respect for other religions and was engaged in noble and charitable deeds and thus no tax should be imposed on offering these services to the society.

Badungar said annual costs for langar items such as desi ghee, sugar and pulses comes to around Rs 75 crore. With the shift from VAT to GST, the tax of 12 per cent will be levied on desi ghee, 18 percent on sugar and 5 per cent on pulses, taking the costs up by Rs 10 crore per annum, he added.

Meanwhile, the SGPC will take up the issue at the next meeting of the executive which has been scheduled to be held at Kurukshetra on August 18. Besides, the GST issue, the committee will also discuss the issue related to appointment of the officiating Jathedar of Takht Shri Kesgarh Sahib.

