GST on langar: State govt releases ₹1.96 cr to SGPC

Chandigarh The Punjab government on Tuesday transferred ₹1.96 crore to the bank account of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) to settle the pending

Chandigarh The Punjab government on Tuesday transferred ₹1.96 crore to the bank account of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) to settle the pending claim of Darbar Sahib against the state GST refund for langar.

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With this, not a single penny of the claim raised by the SGPC so far against this budgetary head was pending, said special chief secretary, revenue, KBS Sidhu, adding that no claim had so far been received from the other two religious shrines — Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar, and Valmik Sthal, Ram Tirath, Amritsar, for which the state government had in May this year allocated ₹4 crore to the Amritsar deputy commissioner.

Of the total allocated amount against pending GST bills, ₹3.5 crore was set aside for Darbar Sahib, ₹35,000 for Durgiana Mandir and the remaining for Valmiki Sthal, Ram Tirath.

The chief minister has already directed the state finance and revenue departments to clear any pending claims for the three shrines, as soon as they are raised, against GST incurred w.e.f August 1, 2017. He has also instructed immediate disbursal of all future claims also of the three shrines, said Sidhu.

A war of words had erupted between Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the CM over the release of the state’s share of the GST. Harsimrat had accused the state government of “reneging” on its commitment after which Amarinder Singh had dubbed the Union minister a “compulsive liar”.