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BJP leaders meet FM

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MARCH. 11. A delegation of the Delhi BJP MPs today met the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, to demand postponement of the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime in the Capital. They also criticised the Sheila Dikshit Government for not coming out clear on the issue and creating problems for the traders and the people by accepting the proposal to implement VAT.

The delegation led by the Delhi BJP president, Madan Lal Khurana, and comprising of Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Lal Bihari Tiwari and Anita Arya, demanded setting up of a committee of traders to analyse the problems being faced by them if at all VAT is implemented in any form. Conveying the resentment of the traders on the issue, Mr. Khurana said it was the Delhi Government which had advocated shifting to the VAT system not once but at least on four occasions to the Central Government. The traders being the most affected party by the introduction of this new system were never consulted.

Mr. Khurana said Delhi, being the Capital of the country, had a distributive character of trade and its case cannot be compared with other States. The VAT system in its present form does not match with the distributive character of the city as 80 per cent of the revenue comes from sales tax. The VAT will damage the trade and due to lack of revenue the developmental works in the Capital will stand affected.

He urged the Finance Minister to freeze the VAT system in Delhi and form a committee of traders to review the proposed system. He urged the Finance Minister to sympathetically consider the request of the Delhi Government for postponement of VAT in Delhi whenever it is made.

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