AN OPEN LETTER TO NARENDER MODI (By Dr Khalid Parvez) Every death in Kashmir resulting due to lack of medical equipment will be unacceptable, since every life is priceless. There are many Kashmiris, working overseas, trying to get some medical equipment to Kashmiri hospitals that have been affected by the floods. The state govt. can waive its excise duty on any medical equipment donated for Kashmiri hospitals, but the central government is imposing the duty as of now. The mindless bureaucratic decision of imposing custom duty on donated medical equipment needed critically for the treatment of dispossessed and dislocated men, women and children afflicted by a major natural disaster is resulting in the blocking of the equipment at the ports by the customs department under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce. Thus this unthinking callous decision will prove to be the direct cause of people dying when they can otherwise survive. In addition, it has been reported that some major international aid organizations in the world have been denied permission by the Govt. of India to operate in Kashmir. This is preventing aid from reaching Kashmir, and Kashmiris need that permission be granted. Every dollar of international aid could help save lives. By denying international aid to suffering Kashmiri people, the Govt. of India is worsening the miseries of Kashmiri people. The Indian government already has laws that permit import of medical equipment for charitable purposes without import duty since 1994 and these have been updated subsequently. If the Indian government is not permitting aid to reach Kashmir by insisting on payment of custom duty, it means that this is a deliberate, mischievous and malicious act to prolong the suffering of people of Kashmir while letting international aid to flow to the rest of India. The author is the founder of DAK.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 07:27:53 +0000
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