Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)

Mangaluru, Sep 16: Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath on Wednesday September 16 allayed fears about the shifting of income-tax (I-T) office from Mangaluru to Goa and said that no such proposal has been made.

"There is no proposal to shift the income-tax office from Mangaluru to Goa or merge it with the office in Goa," Kamath said.

Over the last few days, there have been reports about proposed move to shift the I-T office in Mangaluru to Goa. Various bodies such as KCCI and the opposition parties had appealed the government against going ahead with the move as it would cause hardships to taxpayers in Mangaluru and around.

"The I-T office in Mangaluru has a principal commissioner, and so does the I-T office in Goa. There is a proposal to combine both the designations and appoint one principal commissioner. Under the circumstances, only the position of principal commissioner of Mangaluru may get shifted to Goa. But the news that the entire office in Mangaluru is getting merged with the office in Goa is far from truth," he clarified.

"A large amount of income is being generated within the limits of the income-tax department in Mangaluru. It is a centre that brings more than Rs 4,000 crore income from Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district limits. Therefore, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel has written to union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, union minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Prahlad Joshi explaining to them the situation. I have also spoken to Sadananda Gowda and Prahlad Joshi and I am trying my best to retain the principal income tax commissioner's office here,” he said.

Lambasting the opposition Congress over the issue, he said, "The news is being spread as if the entire income tax office is getting shifted to Goa. It is a conspiracy by the Congress to gain political mileage. Congress is spreading false news that the taxpayers from Mangaluru will have to go to Goa in the future. It is not right to spread false news."