Condemning the Centre’s decision to impose 12 per cent GST on the “sarais” (inns) near Sikhs’ holiest shrine — Darbar Sahib in Amritsar popularly known as Golden Temple, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Tuesday demanded its immediate rollback.
Mann, describing the decision as arbitrary and irrational, said that it targets the devotion of pilgrims staying at sarais near the Golden Temple.
Notably, the GST Council had, in June, decided that a 12 per cent tax on all hotel rooms below Rs 1,000 per day will be levied. The Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has received a notification from the GST Council asking the SGPC to start charging 12 per cent GST on the room tariff of inns provided to the devotees visiting the Golden Temple.
“The sarais, including Guru Gobind Singh NRI Niwas, Baba Deep Singh Niwas, and Mata Bhag Kaur Niwas, are associated with the Golden Temple. These sarais are meant for the accommodation of the devotees visiting the holy shrine and have always been an integral part of the Gurdwara complex...Since decades, these sarais have been providing comfortable stay to the sangat arriving at Sri Darbar Sahib on no profit basis. The levying of GST on room charges of these three sarais will lead to higher tariffs thereby putting a huge burden on the pocket of the pilgrims who come at Sri Darbar Sahib for paying obeisance from across the globe,” said Mann.
Mann unequivocally said that the sarais at Sri Darbar Sahib complex are non-commercial entities and have been constructed for the convenience of thousands of pilgrims coming daily at this holy shrine.
Lamenting that the Centre’s decision is baseless and must be withdrawn without any delay, Mann pointed that earlier, the NDA Government had, in another such decision, imposed GST on langar. “Now again, through this act, the Union Government has bruised the psyche of all the devotees coming at Sri Darbar Sahib in general and Sikhs in particular,” he added.
Speaker Sandhwan said that the doors of ‘Guru Ghar’ are open 24 hours for every section of society and every religion. “The ‘Guru da Langar’ (Community kitchen) and the inns of the Guru Ghar are a great help to passers-by and devotees, who visit the holy shrine to pay obeisance from across the globe...Central Government has reminded the Mughals of collecting ‘jaziya tax’ by levying 12 percent GST on sarais near Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar,” he said.
He demanded that the Central Government should withdraw its decision immediately, while giving a good message to all the society of the country and abroad. “The purpose of these inns is not to earn any profit but these inns provide comfortable accommodation to the pilgrims according to the unique tradition of Sikhism,” he added.
Meanwhile, SAD’s Bathinda MP and former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal also asked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the GST, saying that the move has left the Sikh community shocked. “Central govt decision to impose 12 per cent GST on accommodation charges in 3 ‘Serais’ run by SGPC outside Sri Darbar Sahib premises has shocked Sikh community. These Serais cater to devotees from across the world & are non-profit institutions. I request PM @NarendraModi not to tax devotion of pilgrims & revoke this totally unjustified decision,” she tweeted.
SGPC too, a day before, had criticised the Centre’s decision to impose GST on sarais saying that the Central Government has put an additional burden on the ‘sangat’. The SGPC argued that the inns built by the SGPC, for the convenience of pilgrims arriving at the gurdwaras, are not commercial properties, and therefore, any kind of tax on them is an injustice.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha also slammed the union government for ever-escalating GST and inflation, saying it had put a colossal burden on the common man across the country. Condemning the union government for levying the GST on the sarais of Golden Temple, Chadha termed it ‘Aurangzeb jizya tax’ imposed on Sikhs and Punjabis. “Imposition of GST on the sarais clearly shows the anti-Sikhs and anti-Punjabis attitude of the BJP government. The union government should roll back this decision at once, Chadha said.