Penalty over Rs. 3 crore imposed for 533 wrong bills received under ‘Bill Liyao Inam Pao’ scheme

Chandigarh: Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said that a total penalty of Rs 3,11,16,366 has been imposed for 533 wrong bills received till February 8, 2024 under the ‘Bill Liao Inam Pao’ scheme, out of which penalty of Rs. 2,12,18,191 has been recovered. He said that under this scheme, 918 winners have won prizes worth Rs 43,73,555 by uploading their purchase bills on “Mera Bill App” till the end of December 2023.

Disclosing this in a press communique issued here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that out of a total of 59,616 bills received till February 8 under the ‘Bill Layao Inam Pao’ scheme, 52,988 have been verified and 6628 bills are yet to be verified. He said that 1361 notices have also been issued to the concerned vendors in this regard. He said that a maximum of 189 wrong bills were received from the taxation district Ferozepur for which penalties of Rs.34,99,250 have been imposed.

The Finance Minister further informed that penalties of Rs.16,95,294 have been imposed for 86 wrong bills received from Taxation District Faridkot, Rs.19,47,192 for 75 wrong bills received from Patiala, Rs.33,62,324 for 61 wrong bills received from Jalandhar, Rs. 50,43,524 for 51 wrong bills received from Ropar, Rs.59,72,910 for 38 wrong bills received from Amritsar, and Rs.95,95,872 for 33 wrong bills received from Ludhiana.

The Minister said that a total of 1164 winners have been declared so far through online draws including 246 winners for January 2024. He said that an online draw is being conducted every month under this scheme by the committee appointed by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government.

Revealing further, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that 227 winners won prizes worth Rs 11,75,005 in September 2023, 216 winners won Rs 10,25,540 in October 2023, 235 winners won Rs 10,78,930 in November 2023, and 240 winners were awarded prizes of Rs. 10,94,080 in December 2023. He said that the draw for January 2024 was held on February 7, and the prize money will be disbursed once the winners provide their bank account details.

Cheema said that the scheme received a huge response from the people of the state since the launch of the “Mera Bill App” by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on August 21, 2023. He said that the scheme is aimed at motivating the consumers to obtain bills for their purchases and thereby forcing the sellers to issue the bills for their sales.

The Finance minister said the sale bills of petroleum products (crude oil, petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel and natural gas) and liquor, bills related to purchases made outside Punjab, as well as B2B (business to business) transactions are not eligible for participation in this scheme. He said that only bills of purchases made in the last month are considered in the draw.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema appealed to the people of the state to get the purchase bills of all goods and services being purchased by them and participate in the scheme every month to win prizes to the tune of Rs 10,000. He said that this scheme is proving to be helpful in conveying the message of tax compliance at the grassroots level and annihilating the practice of tax evasion from its roots.