Union Food Processing Industries Minister and SAD’s Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday said that the NDA Government and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi have fulfilled the promise made to the Sikh community by initiating the process of refunding GST (Goods and Services Tax) charged on raw materials used to prepare ‘langar’ in gurudwaras including Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.
“The Union Ministry of Culture has released Rs 57 lakh GST refund to the GST authority in Ludhiana which is to be forwarded to the SGPC...This is the first installment of GST refund and henceforth this refund will be issued quarterly to the SGPC,” she said while thanking the Prime Minister “for the respect shown to Sikh sentiments by resolving this issue to the satisfaction of the Sikh community”.
Notably, the erstwhile NDA government had decided to waive GST on langar items by providing financial assistance under ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’.
Under this scheme, it was decided to reimburse both the Central GST (Goods and Service Tax) and the IGST (Integrated Goods and Service Tax) imposed on gurdwaras as well as other religious institutions hosting ‘langar’.
Earlier, Harsimrat had urged the Prime Minister to waive GST on ingredients used to prepare ‘langar’ in gurudwaras in April 2018 which was accepted shortly afterwards with the Centre coming out with the Sewa Bhoj Yojna.
She had pointed out that Sri Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar ran the world’s largest community kitchen offering free meals throughout the year to lakhs of people, the donation for which was received from the offerings of devotees.