Fastway evaded Rs 684-cr tax: Sidhu : The Tribune India

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Fastway evaded Rs 684-cr tax: Sidhu

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu egged CM Capt Amarinder Singh on to act against business cartels allegedly allowed to flourish under the Akali-BJP rule.

Fastway evaded  Rs 684-cr tax: Sidhu

Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. File photo



Ruchika M Khanna & Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 23

Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today egged Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on to act against business cartels allegedly allowed to flourish under the Akali-BJP rule, claiming his department had uncovered tax evasion worth Rs 684 crore by Fastway Transmission Private Limited.

The multi-system cable operator (MSO) is believed to be linked to former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, though its managing director is Gurdeep Singh Kohli. While Sukhbir has denied he has any business or other interest in Fastway, Kohli has termed Sidhu’s allegations baseless.

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Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha, Sidhu said while his department had issued notices to the company for the alleged violations, it was now for the Chief Minister to register an FIR and order a Vigilance probe against the company that had caused huge losses to the state exchequer.

“If we do not act now, we will be cowards,” he exhorted the Chief Minister, who was not present in the House.

Several Congress MLAs have been demanding action against the Badals over alleged “sand, cable and drug mafia” that thrived under the previous government.

All through the Budget session, many Congress MLAs, including Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Kuljit Nagra, have been gunning for the Badals over “illicit drug trade”. Sukhbir had even dared the government to order a probe against him.

Randhawa had on Monday said in the House that the government was going soft on them, especially former minister Bikram Majithia.

Sidhu today alleged the cable network business ran full throttle after the Akali-BJP government assumed power in 2007. “It was expanded with the intent to carry out loot of Punjab and finish all small businesses through monopoly,” he said.

The minister claimed the company evaded service tax worth Rs 227 crore (by paying just Rs 23 crore against a liability of Rs 250 crore); entertainment tax worth Rs 184 crore, sales tax worth Rs 100 crore (Rs 220 crore if interest and fines are included); Rs 83 crore as unpaid charges towards digging of roads for laying cables; and Rs 100 crore as charges and interest for using poles of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for running the cable.

“Isn’t it strange that the company that started with Rs 25 lakh capital made a profit of Rs 30 crore immediately and gave nothing to the treasury in 10 years of the Akali-BJP rule? My department has already started serving notices on Fastway Transmission for violations and unpaid local government taxes,” he said, adding that one lakh persons would be out of job once the “cable cartel” was broken.

He also demanded a separate probe into alleged under-reporting of the total TV connections and cable operators engaged by the company. “Only 1.25 lakh cable connections were shown, but 80 lakh connections actually exist. They even used Reliance to lay their cable, while the telecom giant was laying its own underground optical fibre network,” said the minister.

Congress MLAs Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Harminder Singh Gill, Kuljit Nagra, Fatehjung Bajwa, Inderbir Singh Bolaria and Kushaldeep Dhillon backed Sidhu, saying they would dig out Fastway cables in their constituencies.

Firm denies charge

Gurdeep Singh Kohli, managing director of Fastway Transmission Private Limited, claimed the allegations of tax dues or under-reporting subscriber base were false. “Most of the cable operators fall in the income bracket of less than Rs 10 lakh and so they are exempt from paying service tax. The entertainment tax at the rate of Rs 15,000 that the government alleged we did not pay, is payable by cable operators, not by multi-system cable operators like us. With regards unpaid charges for laying underground cables, nothing is due from our side. Permissions from the railways, forest department, local bodies and oil marketing companies have been taken for laying cables. While they allege we were showing just 1.25 lakh connections, against 80 lakh, the fact is our total connections are 22 lakh,” he said.

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