LUDHIANA: Several business associations of the city staged a protest at Vishvakarma Chowk on Tuesday, against the delay in processing VAT refunds. Led by Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organizations (Fico) and Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (Apma), office-bearers and members of dozens of organizations shouted slogans against the taxation department and the state government for releasing their pending refunds, which according to the businessmen date back to 2016. The protest comes in the wake of the recent announcement by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to release Rs 87 crore for expediting pending VAT refunds in the state.
Giving more information about Tuesday’s protest, Fico president
Gurmeet Kular said: “Today, all trade and industry associations under the banner of Fico protested against the anti-industry attitude of the
Punjab government. Our only demand is that the state taxation department pay back our pending VAT and GST refunds, as we are running pillar to post to get back back our own money. Refunds worth crores are pending with the state taxation department, while businessmen are paying heavy interests to banks on loans taken for doing business. Though the government had released Rs 68 crore for Ludhiana’s industry to expedite pending VAT refunds, that is not enough to clear the backlog. Therefore, through this protest, we want to wake up the government and the state taxation department from their slumber.”
According to Apma president GS Kahlon: “The government is not dealing seriously with the issue of pending VAT refunds. Refunds worth hundreds of crores of Ludhiana’s industry are pending since the past one year, and there are some cases in which each businessman has refunds worth several lakhs pending. The situation is getting from bad to worse, and if nothing is done now, we will be forced to go on an indefinite hunger strike.” However, deputy excise and taxation commissioner
Pawan Garg could not be contacted on the issue.
Meanwhile, other businessmen present on the occasion included KK Seth, Manjinder Singh Sachdeva, Jagatveer Singh Bittu, Rajeev Jain, Satnam Singh Makkar, Raghbir Singh Sohal, Pawan Garg, Kuldeep Singh, Ajit Lakra, Vipan Mittal, Sukhdial Singh Basant, Manjeet Singh Matharoo, Dalbir Singh Dhiman, Jaswant Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Sunil Mehra, Tarsem Lal Thapar, Gurdev Singh, Gagneesh Khurana, Dharamveer Mahajan, Ramesh Goel, and Ashpreet Singh Sahni.
