Will bring ordinance for audit of tax collected from cable operators: Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Punjab’s Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said Wednesday he would bring an ordinance in the upcoming Cabinet meeting for an audit of tax collected from cable operators in the state during the last regime. Addressing the media, Sidhu said he was committed to taking to logical conclusion the story of alleged corruption of the previous government and that he would procure a ground penetrating radar (GPR) to check where all cable was laid in the state and whether the operator had paid due taxes. He said since the issue related to Excise and Taxation department, a portfolio held by CM Amarinder Singh, the matter would have to be taken to him and the cabinet for its nod.

Accompanied by Supreme Court lawyer Vineet Bhagat, Sidhu said that in 1995, the entertainment tax in Punjab was Rs 50 per TV set. But the previous government amended the taxing provisions to keep Fastway Cable Network Limited out of tax net and imposed a meagre tax of Rs 15,000 per annum on the proprietors of cable operators, thus causing huge losses to the state exchequer.

A Fastway release later in the day said Bhagat was defeated by Fastway in several cases and hence he had twisted all the facts and presented figures just to show the company in a bad light.