Chandigarh, Jun 23 (IANS): After increasing the VAT on petrol and diesel for the second time and hiking the electricity rates, the Punjab government imposed a Rs 200 per month development tax on the pensioners in the state.

The tax, under the head of Punjab State Development Tax, will be deducted from the pensioners' account at the time of issuing the pension.

The tax will be applicable on all retired state government employees -- be they of any Board or Corporation, or are direct pensioners of the state government.

The Finance Department has issued a letter in this regard. The proposal was put forward by the state Excise and Taxation Department, which is the nodal agency for collecting the tax amount.

Responding to the imposition of tax, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa slammed the government for 'levying' the tax on pensioners.

"After increasing VAT on petrol and diesel and enhancing electricity rates, it has now given the pensioners of Punjab a gift," he tweeted along with the letter.

The Punjab Senior Vets Association has also condemned the order which puts retirees drawing pension on par with the employees.

AAP's state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang clarified the development tax was imposed by the previous Congress government in 2018. "Kindly refrain from peddling false information as the Mann government has neither proposed nor imposed such regressive development tax on our people," Kang tweeted, while replying to Bajwa.

However, Bajwa said: "The @AAPPunjab has failed to raise Rs 20,000 crore in revenue from sand mining and Rs 34,000 crore by ending corruption. The govt is now attempting to raise revenue with such a harsh step.

"There are lakhs of pensioners in the state, who will get affected by this. Apparently, the AAP has no sustainable roadmap to revive the economy of Punjab".