NEW DELHI: Ace shooter and chief coach of the Indian Junior Pistol team Jaspal Rana has said that the country's chances of winning Olympic medals in the sport has been dealt a body blow by the imposition of Goods and Services Tax on imported sports equipment.
"Imposing GST on sports goods will act as a hurdle to the aspirants who are financially weak,” he has said in a statement. The GST has raised the burden on the shoulders of the sportsmen and if in case, at any international level competitions, our athletes fail to win any medal, the government should be blamed for the loss," he added.
Speaking against the GST imposed on shooting and other sports accessories, Rana said, "These equipments are not produced in India and need to be imported, so how can a sportsman from a poor family who meets his sports expenses on loan, survive? We have achieved our position where we are today by heavy struggle and without the government's help."
Rana pointed out that the government has imposed 28 per cent GST on revolvers and pistols and 18 per cent on rifles, shotguns and ammunition and 12 per cent on other sports equipments. National Rifle Association of India and senior sportsmen have written to the Finance Minister and Sports Minister in this regard, he said.
Former treasurer of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) Sanjeev Bahl agrees."We have tried to take shooting to the grassroot levels. Despite it being an expensive sport, 80 per cent of the sportsmen hail from the middle class. One cartridge costs Rs30 and a sportsman can only be eligible to buy it from the government only after he/she qualifies to the National Sqaud. Throughout this period he/she spends his/her own funds. The morale of sportspersons has been hit by the GST. The NRAI has written to the government seeking exemption from the GST."
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