GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 11

Anticipating a little hope of getting exemption from the GST Council, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has probably started the process of obtaining the GST registration number. An expert opinion is also being sought in this direction.

Confirming this, the SGPC secretary, Roop Singh, said, “We are seeking legal and financial consultancy on the GST. Meanwhile, a sub-committee has been constituted to draw the next course of action. We have received response from finance ministers of various states, who being members of the GST council, were approached to take sympathetic view of imposing the GST on commodities purchased for langar. There is still hope of getting tax immunity,” he said.

The SGPC has been paying tax on purchase of commodities for langar (community kitchen) since July 1. During the pre-GST era, the world’s largest kitchen at Golden Temple, Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib, Takht Sri Anandpur Sahib, Ropar and Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo (Bathinda) were given immunity from paying the VAT (value added tax).

With the abolition of VAT, which paved the way for the GST, at least 12 per cent tax is levied on desi ghee, 18 per cent on sugar and five per cent on pulses. ‘Karah parshad’ and ‘kheer’ cost dear to the SGPC as ‘desi ghee’ is main ingredient it their preparation.

Presently, the items requisite to prepare langar at Golden Temple cost roughly Rs 30 crore. The holy shrine’s kitchen feeds freshly cooked free food to an estimated over 55,000 devotees on weekdays and around 75,000 on weekends and festivals. Now, after imposition of tax under the GST this will increase financial burden of more than Rs 9 crore on the SGPC annually.

The shrine’s langar hall manager, Raghbir Singh Mand said, “Between Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 crore is spent per month on key items including desi ghee, dry milk and pulses. We require between 160 to 200 tins of desi ghee (weighing 15 kg each), 14 quintal of sugar. As much as 30 quintal of dry milk is consumed daily on an average. Similarly, besides seasonal vegetables, we need 18 to 25 quintal of dal every day. For purchase, we call up tenders and the order is placed with the firm, which quote the lowest rates,” he said.