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GST to burden Bhadradri temple by 5 crore Annually
According to the recent guidelines by the Centre, all temples whose annual income is above Rs 20 lakh will come under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from July 1.
Bhadrachalam: According to the recent guidelines by the Centre, all temples whose annual income is above Rs 20 lakh will come under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from July 1.
All important and major pilgrimage centers will not be able to evade the GST as they earn more revenue than Rs 20 lakh annually.
As far as pilgrimage center of Bhadrachalam is concerned, its accommodation charges, auctioning of shops, deity’s prasadam, special sevas including Arjita Seva, offering of hair etc will come under the tax net. The tax burden would be passed on to the devotees rather indirectly.
Meanwhile, the temple has earned Rs 29.86 crore in 2014-15, while the expenditure was Rs 29.02 crore. During 2015-16, the income and expenditure of the temple respectively were Rs 38.76 crore and Rs 38.86 crore.
Similarly in 2016-17, the income and expenditure stood at Rs 5.99 crore and Rs 5.39 crore, respectively.
Annually, the temple spends Rs 6 to 7 crore for purchasing ingredients to prepare the deity’s prasadam and spends Rs 1.50 crore to Rs 2 crore to organise various festivals. To provide accommodation to devotees, Rs 1 crore annually is spent.
It pays arrears of power bills up to Rs 80 to 95 lakh and Rs 75 lakh per month towards salaries and pension. It pays Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh a month towards the temple contribution to the common good fund and pays Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh towards Endowments Welfare Fund. It also spends Rs 1.25 crore towards wages for the Special Protection Group.
With the implementation of GST, the temple would have to bear a burden of Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore. The officials are in dilemma on how to pass this extra burden on to the devotees.
Temple Executive Officer Prabhakar Srinivas said he along with other temples’ executive officers urged the Endowments Commissioner to find solution to overcome the problem. His instructions are awaited, he added.
