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| BJP's silence 'shameful' as Govt says tax on Mata pilgrimage won't be revoked | | |  Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Oct 10: The State Government on Friday announced on the Floor of the House here that the recently imposed tax on the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage will not be revoked.
Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, who last month unilaterally imposed the tax on the Mata pilgrimage, said there is no proposal to exempt helicopter service from Katra to Vaishno Devi shrine from service tax imposed on commercial chopper services in the State.
"At the moment there is no proposal for exemption with the Government," Drabu said in a written reply to a question in the State Assembly.
An opposition legislator had asked if the State Government intended to exempt the helicopter services to the shrines in Reasi district of the State from the 12.5 per cent service tax imposed on commercial helicopter services.
Since day one of the imposition of the controversial tax, which has hurt the sentiments of people of Jammu, the Finance Minister has stood by his orders.
While the PDP-led coalition has made its stand clear on the issue, what is pinching the people of Jammu the most is the silence of BJP Ministers. The BJP leadership seems to be maintaining double standards towards the people of Jammu who voted this party to power.
Even though the BJP leaders time and again said the tax would be revoked, the party leadership miserably failed to fight for it before the PDP, whose Minister imposed this tax even without taking the Cabinet into confidence.
As per officials in the Finance department, by imposition of tax the Minister has "not adhered to the Rule 8 of the Jammu and Kashmir Business Rules."
"The rule stipulates that any proposal seeking amendment/imposition of a new tax ought to be approved by the Cabinet, which in this instant case was never adhered to," said a senior official in the Civil Secretariat.
On September 2, the PDP Minister imposed 12.5 percent service tax on commercial helicopter services to the shrine, drawing widespread criticism, with most of the political parties comparing it with 'jazya' while the BJP was accused of having compromised on the sentiments of millions of devotees who throng the revered shrine.
Though subsequently the BJP was formally informed about the imposition of tax at the Cabinet meeting held on September 5 in Srinagar, none of the BJP Ministers dared to raise a voice. As per insiders, the Finance Minister had conveyed to the Cabinet that he would not rollback his decision. But none of the BJP Ministers confronted him nor picked up the issue with Chief Minister who had chaired the Cabinet meeting.
All this has left the people of Jammu shocked even as they feel it's high time for the people of the province to float a party of their own which fights for the rights of the people.
"BJP has failed while Congress couldn't act better previously. As about the regional parties like NC and PDP they have often been fighting for the cause of Kashmir. Amid this all nobody fights for the rights of people of Jammu," said Parveen Kumar, a resident of Jammu.
"The neglect towards Jammu has grown so much that now even our religious sentiments are ignored. Who will fight for the cause of millions of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine devotees," asked a group of Jammuites. |
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