February 18 : The Inland Revenue Office, Janankpur has lost as much as 480 million rupees of state revenue owing to the recent Madhesh agitation. The office incurred the loss against its target, during the period from 18 August 2015 to 14 January 2016 of the current fiscal year. 

The revenue target of the office for the current fiscal year was around 1.65 billion rupees. But the strikes imposed along the Terai region led to the loss of 480 million rupees, according to the chief revenue officer at the office, Punya Prasad Neupane. 

The businesses in the central Terai region including Dhanusha came to a standstill due to the movement instigated by the Madheshi Morcha. Neupane said that the details of sales of factories and other business firms in the region couldn’t be received for the same reason. He added that failure of most of the businesses to register themselves under PAN due to the agitation was another cause for the loss in the revenue. 

Meanwhile, the government has exempted the penalty on the taxes for the period between 18 August 2015 to 14 January 2016. Treasurer at the Janakpur Chambe of Commerce and Industry Jinendra Mahaseth said that the exemption of charges provided some respite to the local businesses. Likewise, Tax Officer at the Inland Revenue Office, Rakesh Chaudhary, said that around 60 thousand traders in the region have felt relief from the exemption on the penalty.