Speaking to media persons on Sunday, NGO President Durgadas Kamat pointed to an un-starred question at the ongoing assembly session. The question asks for details of revenue generated from casinos, to which it was replied that Rs 1,15,74,69,287 was collected by the commercial taxes department.
Kamat however says the department should be collecting nothing less than Rs 196 crore.
Considering 5,000 people visit the casinos in a day, he said, the daily collections itself would amount to Rs 1,96,50,14,000. “This is taking into consideration Rs 2,000 as the entry fee and if each person plays a minimum of Rs 1,000. There are collection in the form of entry tax, entertainment tax, service tax and VAT,” he said.
He went on to add that according to the commercial tax Act there should be a track of bills, tickets, cash books, but nothing of the sort was being maintained.
“This is a major revenue leakage that is happening. We had initially predicted it to be a scam of Rs 5,000 crore, but it seems to be more. When the tourist season begins, there are more people visiting these on shore and off shore casinos,” said Kamat.
During a recent conversation with Governor Mridula Sinha, Kamat said she had promised to organise a meeting with the NGO and police officials. The NGO however has decided to write about the matter to the ED, Income Tax office as well as the Central Finance Ministry and the Home Ministry.
