Congress can't be intimidated by 'tax terrorism': CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Mar 30: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the BJP is wrong if it thought that it can intimidate the Congress Party with "tax terrorism".
Reacting to the Income Tax Department's fresh notice to the party asking to pay Rs 1,823 crore, Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP is afraid of losing the Lok Sabha elections and hence "terrorising" the party by misusing central agencies.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party, fearful of impending defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, has been misusing autonomous institutions like the IT Department, ED, and CBI to undermine the Congress Party.
"As part of this tactic, they have unleashed tax terrorism' on our party. The BJP is under the illusion that by weakening our party, it can win the election," Siddaramaiah said in a statement.
Quoting Congress leaders, the chief minister said that between 2017 and 2018, the BJP obtained contributions from 92 undisclosed donors and from 1,297 donors lacking address details.
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"Should the same criteria (of raising tax demand) be applied to the BJP, it would be liable to pay Rs 4,263 crore for tax discrepancies over the last seven years," Siddaramaiah said.
He charged that the Income Tax Department has become "hyperactive", using tax terrorism' as a tool against opposition parties, including, TMC and CPI, as the election approaches.
However, the same IT Department, which aggressively targets opposition parties, mysteriously turns a blind eye to the BJP's tax violations. The public is not so ignorant as to not question who is blindfolding the IT Department, the chief minister stated.
"The IT Department, which levies accusations of tax violations against certain Congress leaders citing supposed diary entries, overlooks the Yediyurappa diaries exposed in Karnataka, as well as the 'Birla-Sahara' diary that suggests Narendra Modi was a beneficiary. Why have these not caught the department's attention?" Siddaramaiah asked.
He alleged that the ruling BJP has misappropriated thousands of crores through electoral bonds, misusing institutions like IT, ED, and CBI.
However, now, in order to divert the people's attention from this huge scam, the BJP government is making false accusations of income tax evasion with the malicious intention of portraying the opposition parties as guilty, the chief minister charged.
"In the past five years, the BJP government has written off around Rs 10.09 lakh crore of bank loans of fraudsters like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. The public deserves to know how many kickbacks the BJP received from these individuals," Siddaramaiah claimed.
Seeing Prime Minister Narendra Modi boast of winning 400 seats while engaging in such illegal activities to crush the opposition reveals that he has clearly seen the writing on the wall, Siddaramaiah said.
The Congress on Friday said it has received fresh notices from the income-tax department, asking it to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore, and accused the ruling BJP of indulging in "tax terrorism" to financially cripple the opposition party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
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13 lakh litres of 'Rail Neer' supplied to train passengers daily: Government
New Delhi (PTI): Approximately 13 lakh litres of packaged drinking water -- 'Rail Neer' -- are being supplied to train passengers across the railway network daily, the government informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Wednesday.
Apprising the Lower House about the Indian Railways' endeavour to provide safe and potable drinking water facilities at all stations, the government also provided zone-wise details of the water vending machines (WVMs) installed there.
"To ensure the quality of drinking water being made available at the railway stations, instructions exist for periodical checking and required corrective action to be taken.
"Regular inspection and maintenance of drinking water facilities is carried out and complaints are attended to promptly," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while responding to a question raised by BJP MP Anup Sanjay Dhotre seeking to know the supply of drinking water at railway stations across the country
"Complaints regarding deficiency in services, including water supply, are received through various channels such as public complaints, web portals, social media, etc. These complaints are received at various levels, including the Railway Board, zonal railways, division office, etc.," Vaishnaw said.
"The complaints so received are forwarded to the concerned wings of Railways and necessary action is taken to check and address them. As receipt of such complaints and action taken thereon is a continuous and dynamic process, a centralised compendium of these is not maintained," he added.
Providing zone-wise details of water vending machines, the minister said 954 such machines have been installed across railway stations.
"The Indian Railways also provides safe and affordable packaged drinking water bottles -- Rail Neer -- approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in trains and at stations," Vaishnaw said.
"Approximately, 13 lakh litres of Rail Neer are being supplied per day to the travelling passengers in trains and at stations across the Indian Railways network," he added.
