Centre to provide financial help to SGPC to offset GST on langar

Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

The Centre on Friday decided to provide special financial assistance to all religious bodies that serve free langar to devotees and needy.

Though these bodies will have to pay CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) and IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax), this tax will be reimbursed by the Centre.

The order has been issued after the President gave his assent to the Special Financial Assistance for Sewa Bhoj Yojana. The scheme, having an outlay of Rs 350 crore, has been launched for two years-- between 2018-19 and 2019-20. The scheme has been announced amidst continuous pressure exerted on the Centre by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Lucknow Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which have been demanding waiver on langar items.

The GST is not levied on food served in the langar, but is charged on the purchase of raw materials used to prepare the food. The items on which GST is levied are sugar, ghee, dry fruits, tea and LPG. The Golden Temple has paid over Rs 2 crore in GST on langar items to date.

The food bill of the Golden Temple, which feeds between 55,000 and 60,000 devotees daily, is around Rs 75 crore annually.

On Tuesday, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal who, along with his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Badal, paid obeisance at the shrine had said that the GST on langar purchases at the Golden Temple would be waived.