BJP minister justifies entry tax on sugar

JALANDHAR: A day after Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma said that his party was not taken into confidence while levying 11% entry tax on sugar being imported from other states, industries minister Madan Mohan Mittal has justified the decision saying that it was done to save both the local sugar industry and farmers.
"Statutory minimum price for sugarcane is highest in Punjab due to which there is great influx of sugar from other states.Local sugar mills are unable to sell their stocks and farmers are also not getting their full payment," said Mittal.
"Agriculture minister Tota Singh had raised the issue and suggested this tax. Then my department moved the proposal which was tabled in the cabinet," Mittal told TOI on Tuesday. He also revealed that earlier the tax rate was proposed at 14% but then BJP ministers got it reduced to 11%. "If sugar mills shut down then it would spell doom for sugarcane growers as well. It is crucial to help both the mills and cane growers," he said.
When asked whether the issue discussed within BJP as their state president had said that the party was not consulted, Mittal said he would not say anything about Sharma's comments and the discussion and decision in BJP legislature group meeting.
Punjab BJP chief Sharma had claimed that the party was not consulted about the tax and said they would raise the issue with state government to seek its waiver.
However, inquiries from within BJP legislature group revealed that as a the bill for entry tax was proposed to be tabled during the last budget session an emergency meeting of the party legislature group, in which it was decided that the proposal should not be tabled and it should be discussed further. "Our MLAs had then opposed the entry tax on sugar import and then party urged deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to postpone its tabling. Later, the matter was never discussed in the legislature group and a final decision was not taken on the issue by the legislature group," revealed a BJP MLA on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, party leaders said it had become embarrassing for BJP as it had become clear that though having just 12 MLAs, they could not be unanimous on the issue. Another BJP minster Anil Joshi had already said all four BJP ministers, who attended the cabinet meeting on May 20, had supported the proposal to levy the entry tax on sugar.