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Gurdwaras feel the GST pinch in serving free langars
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SME Times News Bureau | 13 Feb, 2018
The popular community kitchen -- better known as the "langar" -- of
gurdwaras in northern India is feeling the pinch of the GST regime that
came into force seven months ago.
The cash-rich Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages gurdwaras, or Sikh
shrines, across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, has claimed that
the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is putting an extra burden on its
finances in running the free food service.
At the Golden Temple
complex, which is home to the holiest of Sikh shrines, the Harmandir
Sahib, the SGPC claims to have paid nearly Rs 2 crore (about $310,000)
as GST.
The Golden Temple complex provides over 100,000 people
free food on weekends and other rush days. On normal days, over 50,000
people partake langar served selflessly at the complex to people from
various religions, cultures, castes, countries and gender.
The community kitchen, which serves completely vegetarian food, at the complex is one of the largest such in the world.
"The
SGPC has paid Rs 2 crore as GST, while purchasing ration for langar and
parshad, ever since the new tax regime came into force last year. From
July 1, 2017, to January 31, 2018, we have paid Rs 2 crore as GST on
purchase of different items required in the langar at the Golden
Temple," SGPC spokesperson Diljit Singh Bedi said.
Hundreds of
tonnes of wheat flour, desi ghee, pulses, vegetables, milk, sugar and
rice are used, along with millions of litres of water, annually at the
Golden Temple complex and other gurdwaras to prepare langar.
The
SGPC, which has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley and the GST Council in the past, continues to
fight to get GST exemption on the purchase of raw material that it has
to procure.
SGPC officials say that gurdwaras across the country could be serving free food to nearly 10 million people on a daily basis.
The
SGPC is also upset with Jaitley's recent statement that "no GST has
been imposed on the food served in langars in the various gurdwaras".
SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal recently took exception to the statement.
"The
statement is far from the truth and facts. GST is being charged on the
purchase of langar items," Longowal pointed out in Amritsar.
"GST
is levied on only products that are sold. Food in gurdwaras is
distributed free, so there is no question of levying GST. There is no
GST on atta or rice, if somebody says that I am buying ghee for temple,"
Jaitley was recently quoted as saying.
The "One Nation One Tax"
regime under the newly-introduced GST, as per the SGPC estimates, is
going to put an extra burden of over Rs 10 crore on this socio-religious
activity at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar and other gurdwaras.
The
SGPC, the mini-parliament of the Sikh religion that manages Sikh
shrines, which has an over Rs 1,100-crore annual budget, wants the GST
Council and the central government to exempt purchases made for the
langar sewa from GST. Various items procured for the langar fall in
different tax slabs ranging from five to 18 per cent.
Besides the
Golden Temple, the SGPC runs the langar service in other famous Sikh
shrines like Takht Keshgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib (where the
modern-day Khalsa Panth was established on April 13, 1699, by Guru
Gobind Singh), Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district
and scores of other gurdwaras under it.
The langar Sewa is a
socio-religious activity that is part of the Sikh religious ethos from
the time of the first Sikh Guru, Nanak Dev (1469-1539). It was started
to emphasise equality in society regardless of religion, caste, colour
and creed. The langar service is funded from donations made by people at
the gurdwaras.
"The SGPC spends around Rs 75 crore to purchase
desi ghee, sugar and pulses. Now, it will have to bear a financial
burden of Rs 10 crore on these purchases as they come under the 5 to 18
per cent GST bracket," Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur
Badal wrote to Jaitely last year, seeking exemption from the GST Act for
all purchases made by the SGPC for langar sewa.
The GST Act provides for exempting eligible institutions/businesses but only on the GST Council's recommendation.
After
being initiated by Guru Nanak Dev, the Guru ka Langar tradition was
fully established by the third Sikh Guru, Amar Dass. It is said that
even Mughal emperor Akbar once came and partook langar among the
ordinary people.
Hundreds of people volunteer on a daily basis at
the Golden Temple complex and other gurdwaras to prepare and serve food
and wash used utensils at the langars. The volunteers include scores of
women and children as well. People partake langar while sitting on the
floor in the langar halls of gurdwaras.
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