When some of my submissions did not see the light of the print , I had stopped writing . Any way starting again and here is my latest :
Subject : DONT TREAT ARMY MEN LIKE BEGGARS - SC.
Sir ,
The news item about verbal remarks of the Apex Court makes for sad reading . To drive the point home the"strong words" were needed to be included in the written orders . It is a matter of regret that were excluded from the same . The remarks may also come as an eye opener for many citizens .
For us in the Defence Services it did not come as a surprise . It is well known reality that, the Babus in the Government do not miss out a single opportunity to do dirty to the men in uniform .
One does not have to go far . Our own Maharashtra Government has been giving step motherly treatment to the Defence forces . I am talking about imposition of VAT on the goods for sale in the Canteen Stores Department ( CSD ) . Traditionally and as one of the perks to attract the youth to the forces , the goods for sale in the CSD have been exempt from ALL OF Central Govt and few of the State Govt taxes . This did result inconsiderable relief to the personnel buying CSD items .While rationalising the tax structure VAT was introduced replacing various Central and State Govt taxes . State Govts of Punjab , Haryana , Delhi and few other states promptly issued orders exempting CSD goods from VAT . However despite of many requests, the Govt of Maharashtra has not exempted the CSD goods from VAT . This perk and relief is therefore not available to the serving and retired defence personnel serving in Maharashtra . In fact some items are more costly in the CSD in Maharashtra
Do they want us to beg for what has been traditionally and by right ours!
PM Velankar ,
Nagpur.
