SPB Urged To Govt. Refrain From Imposing VAT

Different organisations, including the Socialist Party of Bangladesh and Institute for Planning and Development urged the government to refrain from imposing value added tax(VAT) on metro rail fares.

In this time they also expressed that such decision of imposing VAT on the metro rail service from July 1 would lead middle class people to stop using this public transport regularly due to higher fares.

At a protest rally in Dhaka on Sunday, the SPB leaders called on the government to refrain from imposing 15 per cent value added tax on the metro rail fares.

The SPB organised the rally in front of the National Press Club where incharge of Dhaka city unit of the party, Nikhil Das, chaired.

General secretary of the party, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, said that the metro rail service should be introduced as mass transport and so fares must should be cheap.

But the fares will be much higher if 15 per cent VAT is further imposed. The fares of this service already higher than bus fares.

Assistant general secretary of the party Razequzzaman Ratan demanded that the fares of metro rail should not be increased.

He said that the fares should be decreased so that the common people could use the service.

Central leaders of the party Zulfikar Ali, Khalequzzaman Lipon, Zakir Hossain, Rokhsana Parvin Asha, student leader Raihan Uddin and others spoke at the rally.

The rally was followed by a protest procession that paraded different city roads.

The IPD, meanwhile, in a statement urged the National Board of Revenue to withdraw its decision to impose 15 per cent VAT on the metro rail service.

It also said that increased fares would make it difficult for lower and middle income group people to use the service regularly.

The existing fare of metro rail in Bangladesh is higher than any other Asian cities such as Kolkata in India, Lahore in Pakistan, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Jakarta in Indonesia, the statement said.

Although the metro rail service has the capacity to carry five lakh passengers in Dhaka, three lakh passengers are currently using it, the statement said, adding that increases in fares would reduce the number of users in the coming days.

The IPD said that it was one of the rights of the mega city residents like Dhaka to ensure quality mass transport.

Referring to the idea of the Sustainable Development Goals, the IPD said that sustainable and inclusive public services would be kept keeping in line with the people’s purchasing power which is one of the major tasks of a state.

The fare of the metro rail service is going to be increased from July 1 this year as the NDR had recently decided to impose value added tax on the service.