Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 1: As desired by Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Income Tax Department and Central GST Department have been carrying out outreach programmes in different districts of J&K under the leadership & guidance of Shri Krishna, Pr.CCIT(NWR), Chandigarh and K.M.Bali., Pr. CCIT (OSD), Amritsar. These outreach and interactive programmes are being organized and coordinated in the districts of Jammu region by Mona Singh, Pr.CIT, ReFAC(AU), Jammu and by M.P.Singh, Pr.CIT, Srinagar.
As a part of this ongoing outreach programme, an interactive session was jointly held by both the departments in the Conference Hall, Aayakar Bhawan, Jammu with college students.
The session was attended by about 40 students and a few teachers from different colleges viz. GCW Parade, Jammu, GDC RS Pura, MAM PG College, GGM Science College, CGST, Jammu, J&K Girls BNNCC. It was heartening to note that six students from the border town of RS Pura also attended and all the participants were given certificate of participation.
The basic principles of levying Income Tax and GST were explained and the participants were made aware of the recent initiatives of the Government to increase ease of compliance with tax laws. The importance of having PAN was highlighted and all the participants were requested to spread awareness about the role of tax payers in the development of the nation. The students were also given a tour of the office and a live demonstration at the Aayakar Sewa Kendra regarding the ease of filing of Income Tax returns by Baljeet Kaur, Addl CIT, Range Jammu.
Similar outreach programmes titled ‘Mulaqaat’ were also conducted in the districts of Kulgam and Shopian.
In Shopian, the outreach programme, Mulaqaat, was conducted at the Mini Secretariat of the district and in Kulgam the same was conducted at the Rest House Chawalgam with representatives from the trade community, the local youth, fruit growers, small shopkeepers & businessmen in large numbers.
Feedback from the people was taken by the officers regarding taxation issues and their aspirations from the Union Budget. Basharat and Muhammad Abas, young traders from Shopian, & Mohd Iqbal Dhoobi, a local trader from Kulgam, raised concerns about the complicated nature of the Income Tax and GST laws and they requested that awareness and educational camps be held in their district extensively to educate the public about the same.
They insisted that the locals wanted to pay taxes but they needed guidance with respect to the same to encourage voluntary compliance. While they appreciated the technological advancements brought in both the departments and the transparency and accountability associated with the same, the locals requested that such interactive sessions continue with the jurisdictional officers in order to address their concerns more effectively.
Regarding the Union Budget, the local youth of Shopian & Kulgam requested that beyond horticulture (on which majority of the population depends) further opportunities of employment be generated. They further requested for increased road connectivity between the villages of District Shopian & Kulgam, tapping of tourism potential, river channelling & flood proofing of river Ranbiara in Shopian and construction of mini hydro projects over the same.
Reyaz, a local shopkeeper from Shopian suggested that town beautification and basic facilities be emphasised in their districts for the visiting tourists. The audience also appreciated that amongst the various Central Government schemes, Ayushman Bharat had benefited the people of J&K immensely. The officers noted down the detailed points raised by the locals, collected feedback forms and promised to communicate the same to their superiors.
The Income Tax Department in Srinagar is headed by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, M.P Singh. His officers, the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, Rajiv Gubgotra & Assisstant Commissioner of Income Tax, Smt. Abhishri conducted the functions at Kulgam and Shopian districts, respectively, along with the officers of the Central GST Department.
The taxpayers of both the districts were also educated about the Taxpayers’ Charter of the Income Tax Department which is attached with this document. Overall, it was a hightly constructive and fruitful interactive session where the voices, thoughts and ideas of the locals from Shopian & Kulgam District were heard and recorded.
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