Will clear VAT refund backlog in 3-5 months: Kejri to traders

Tribune News Service

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Ludhiana, July 5

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today assured traders and industrialists of Punjab that his party would try to clear the backlog of Value Added Tax (VAT) refund in the first three to five months of forming the government in the state.

Kejriwal was interacting with traders and industrialists of Ludhiana, who had come to share with him the hardships they had been facing in Punjab.

The AAP convenor said within one month of forming the government in the state, his party would formulate a policy for timely refund of VAT.

Speaking about the work the AAP government has done in Delhi during its a year-and-a-half tenure, Kejriwal said he took several new initiatives to simplify collection of VAT from the business community in the National Capital.

“On the request of traders and industrialists, the AAP-led government in Delhi reduced VAT from 12.5 per cent to just 5 per cent on various commodities such as wood, marble, granite, sweets, footwear and clothes,” said Kejriwal.

He said the first thing the AAP did immediately after coming to power in Delhi was curbing the Inspector Raj by stopping random raids conducted by VAT-collection inspectors on the business community. “These raids were primarily conducted to get hefty bribes from the business community, which we have completely stopped in Delhi,” he said.

Lashing out at the Akali Dal–BJP government in Punjab, he assured that if his party was voted to power, he would not only bring back those 20,000 industrial units that had left the state due to the wrong policies of the Punjab Government but would also reinstate them with honour and confidence.

Kejriwal said he always believed that governments had no dearth of money if they had good intentions to provide people-friendly governance. “Problem arises when governments like that of Badal start looting its own people by levying heavy taxes and bureaucracy indulges in large-scale corruption.”

The AAP convenor said his party would revamp the entire transport policy as Badals had monopolised the transport industry in the state. “If elected, the AAP would cancel all their (transport companies owned by Badals) permits and allot the same to unemployed youth of the state,” he said.

‘Will end Badal family-run businesses’

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday assured the traders that after coming to power in Punjab, AAP would hold a probe into various businesses being run by Badals and their family members. “In fact, Badals have taken over all businesses in Punjab, including transport, liquor, sand and gravel, cable network and hotels. We will get all these businesses freed from Badals’ clutches and hand it over to unemployed youth,” said Kejriwal.