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Journalism of Courage
AMRITSAR, March 10: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has severely criticised the Union government for imposing tax on term deposits by the SGPC and Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in various banks.
In a statement issued here today, SGPC secretary Surjit Singh said that Income-Tax authorities had directed banks to deduct income-tax at the rate of 10 per cent at source out of the interest payment to the SGPC and Sri Dardar Sahib, Amritsar.
Pointing out that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committeehas been running “langar” (community kitchen) and arranging accommodation for pilgrims and devotees in “serais” (inns) free of cost, besides running educational institutions, engineering, medical and dental colleges for the benefit of people, he said the tax was like the “jaziya” tax imposed by the Mughals on Hindus.
Demanding the immediate revocation of the order, the SGPC secretary regretted that the BJP-led government, which had an ally in the Shiromani Akali Dal, had levied the tax. Surjit Singh disclosed that SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra would meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha soon to urge them to withdraw the tax with immediate effect.
