Badals Got Rs 108 Crore Waived In Taxes For Luxury Hotel: Bhagwant Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday alleged that the Badal family had taxes worth Rs 108 crore waived for a Mohali-based luxury hotel -- Sukhvilas -- by way of a "tailor-made" eco-tourism policy during the Akali regime.

The state government will take action in the matter, he said.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh, Mr Mann claimed that the Badal family claimed tax exemption worth 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.

Metro Ecogreen Resort is the real name of this hotel, which is located in Palanpur village in Majri block of Mohali district, he said.

"It was a conflict of interest and misuse of power," Mr Mann alleged.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader claimed that the Akali government framed Punjab eco-tourism policy, 2009 to "facilitate" the construction of the hotel.

As construction could not take place on this land, which is a forest area, they brought the eco-tourism policy in 2009 and later brought an amendment in the law for the construction of the hotel, he alleged.

Before setting up the hotel, there used to be a poultry farm owned by the Badal family, he claimed.

"Later, the Change of Land Use permission was given to build the hotel. Who would have refused the CLU when they themselves were in power? Even though, under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, no commercial activity could be undertaken there," Mr Mann said.

Mr Mann said a Badal-owned company, Metro Ecogreen Resort Limited, took approval for nearly 20 acres on March 2, 2009 for the project.

Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board gave the approval in December 2010 for setting up an ecotourism resort in village Palanpur, he said.

Another Badal family-owned company Taj Travels Private Ltd took approval for ecotourism on a piece of land in Palanpur, he claimed Metro Ecogreen Resort purchased over 23 kanal (about 2.50 acres) land from the Taj Travels. Thus, total land accumulated was 20.8 acres, he said.

Mr Mann claimed that majority of the 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 81,500 shares, while Dabwali Transport Company holds 5,350 shares." The construction activity for the hotel began in May 2013 and commercial activity started from April 1, 2016.

Under the eco-tourism policy, no other hotel came up, he said. "It was only for their hotel." Mr Mann said the project was given incentives worth Rs 108.73 crore for a period from May 11, 2015 to May 10, 2025.

"State Goods and services tax (SGST) and value added tax (VAT) were waived for the project for a period of 10 years. For 10 years, State GST or VAT will not be applicable on the hotel, which works out to over Rs 85 crore," he claimed.

In addition, electricity duty of Rs 11.44 crore and luxury tax and annual licence fee of Rs 11.44 crore were waived for a period of 10 years, he claimed.

Replying to a question, Mr Mann said, "Action will be taken (in the matter). Which laws were misused. Why was this (eco-tourism) policy framed for themselves only? How CLU was taken," he said.

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