Bhagwant Mann said that Sukhvilas is a 7 star hotel and charges Rs 4-5 lakh per night for some rooms. (file)
Chandigarh:
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday alleged that the Badal family had waived tax worth Rs 108 crore for its Mohali-based luxury hotel – Sukhvilas – through the “optimized” eco-tourism policy during the Akali regime.
He said that the state government will take action in this matter.
Addressing the media in Chandigarh, Mr Mann claimed that the Badal family had claimed tax exemption of Rs 108 crore for the luxury hotel project for a period of 10 years from 2007-2017.
He said Sukhvilas is a 7 star hotel and charges Rs 4-5 lakh per night for some rooms.
He said, the real name of this hotel is Metro Ecogreen Resort, which is located in Palanpur village of Majri block of Mohali district.
“This was a conflict of interest and abuse of power,” Mr Mann alleged.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader claimed that the Akali government created the Punjab Eco-Tourism Policy, 2009 to “facilitate” the construction of hotels.
He alleged that since construction could not take place on this land, which is a forest area, they brought an eco-tourism policy in 2009 and later amended the law to allow construction of hotels.
He claimed that before setting up the hotel, the Badal family used to have a poultry farm here.
“Later, land use change was allowed to build a hotel. Who would have refused CLU when they themselves were in power? However, under the Punjab Land Conservation Act, 1900, no commercial activity could be carried out there, ” Mr. Mann said.
Mr Mann said the Badal-owned company, Metro Ecogreen Resort Ltd, had taken approval of about 20 acres of land for the project on March 2, 2009.
He said that the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board had approved setting up an ecotourism resort in village Palanpur in December 2010.
Taj Travels Pvt Ltd, another company owned by the Badal family, took approval for ecotourism on a piece of land in Palanpur, claiming that Metro Ecogreen Resort purchased over 23 kanals (about 2.50 acres) of land from Taj Travels. Thus, the total accumulated land was 20.8 acres, he said.
Mr Mann claimed that the majority shares in Metro Ecogreen Resort Ltd were held by the Badal family. “Sukhbir Badal holds 1.83 lakh shares of this private limited company, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal holds 81,500 shares, while Dabwali Transport Company holds 5,350 shares.” Construction activity for the hotel began in May 2013 and commercial activity began on 1 April 2016.
He said that no other hotel came under the eco-tourism policy. “It was only for their hotel.” Mr Mann said the project was given an incentive of Rs 108.73 crore for the period from May 11, 2015 to May 10, 2025.
“State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) and Value Added Tax (VAT) were waived off for a period of 10 years for the project. For 10 years, state GST or VAT will not be applicable on hotels, which have a turnover of Rs. It amounts to more than Rs 85 crore,” he claimed.
Besides this, electricity duty of Rs 11.44 crore and luxury tax and annual license fee of Rs 11.44 crore were waived off for a period of 10 years, he claimed.
Responding to a question, Mr Mann said, “Action will be taken (in the case). Which laws were misused. Why was this (eco-tourism) policy made only for itself? How was the CLU taken away,” he Said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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