Govt move to collect taxes from traders kicks up row

The state government’s drive to collect taxes from the traders has kicked up a row, with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) terming it “tax terrorism”, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming it to be “sheer extortion”.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the AAP government and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann were trying their best to destroy the medium-sized traders, as tax officers across Punjab would be forced to collect money from the traders by issuing orders to conduct 1,000 raids every month.

Terming it “tax terrorism”, Badal told the traders to oppose this “government hooliganism”, otherwise it will spoil the business environment in the state. “We will start a public movement against this campaign and demand the abolition of the ‘inspector state’ and reimplementation of the ‘relief’ scheme initiated by the Akali government,” he said.

In a separate press conference, Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sareen alleged that on April 18, the AAP government had issued a new directive instructing deputy commissioners in the Taxation Department to ensure that each Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) conducts four inspections every month and resolves these within the same timeframe. “This would result in around 1,200 inspections across the state each month. If an average penalty of Rs 8 lakh is imposed per inspection, the monthly collection would total Rs 96 crore and annually a staggering Rs 1,152 crore,” he said, adding that this would lead to arbitrary actions by officials and promote open corruption.

Sareen said the government had unofficially instructed officers that every inspection must yield fines of Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh. This isn’t merely harassment of traders — it’s direct robbery of their hard-earned money, he said.

Sareen warned that if the government did not roll back this directive, the BJP would launch a statewide agitation against it.

SAD, BJP raise crop loss issue

The SAD and the BJP also raised the issue of damage to crops in the recent rains and thunderstorms, besides accidental fires.

A BJP delegation comprising several senior leaders, including Avinash Rai Khanna, Manoranjan Kalia, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Ashwani Sharma, Rakesh Rathour, Kewal Dhillon, Fateh Singh Bajwa, Parampal Kaur, SS Virk, Dayal Sodhi and Darshan Singh Nanewal, submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Governor.

They said the state government had not even assessed crop damage loss so far. SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema, in a video statement, said the state government had not announced any compensation.

‘Allegations baseless’

Ruling AAP spokesperson Neel Garg criticised the BJP for its “baseless” allegations against the government’s taxation policies. Speaking at a press conference, Garg said, “It is laughable that BJP leaders, who institutionalised tax terrorism in India, are accusing Punjab’s AAP government of spreading the same,” Garg said. He highlighted the BJP’s imposition of the GST on essential items like milk, curd, and educational materials, as well as worship materials for temples and gurdwaras.