<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Amid speculations regarding the imposition of a 15 VAT on metro rail’s ticket with effect from July 1, Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Friday that they know nothing about the matter.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Who suddenly announced such a thing? We don't know anything about it,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quader, also general secretary of the ruling Awami League, said this while addressing an Iftar and Eid gifts distribution programme organised by the party’s front Matshjeeby League at Rajdhani High School ground on Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka on Friday morning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Calling the metro rail a service-oriented transportation, he said they would discuss with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“People are benefiting from it. And we haven't made any decision on that,” he said about the VAT issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quader said they don't know who announced it in a hurry before any high-level decision of the government. Journalists should have asked about it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is currently a VAT waiver on Metrorail tickets, which will expire on June 30. DMTCL requested NBR to extend the period but the revenue board expressed unwillingness to extend the exemption.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The second secretary of NBR's VAT Division Barrister Md. Badruzzaman Munshi sent a letter to the managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in this regard.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the letter, VAT exemption on metro rail tickets will expire on June 30.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the letter, the revenue board said that various development activities are going on in the country with the goal of attaining the status of a developed country by 2041.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The government has to constantly provide money to carry out those development activities, which is mainly collected through direct and indirect taxes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tax exemptions are given to various sectors on different occasion with the aim of promoting domestic industries, reduce import dependence and developing small and cottage industries, etc, said the letter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That is why tax exemption benefits are being gradually withdrawn from various sectors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides, freedom fighters and children of three feet height can travel free of charge, and people with special needs can travel on metro rail at a 10 to 15 percent discount. - unb</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>