The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has sent two separate reminders to the defence and home secretaries for duties and taxes by various military and paramilitary-run clubs and recreation centres.

NBR Chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan in the letters to Defence

Secretary Idris Ali and Home Secretary M M Reza on April 23 said value-added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty are applicable to every commercially operated club, restaurant, community centre, decorator, caterer and cinema hall.

Neither the government nor the NBR exempted those establishments run by defence forces includ-

ing army, navy and air from duties and taxes.

Such establishments run by the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) also have to pay duties and taxes, the chairman said.

The NBR through a letter on September 1, 1999 asked all such ventures to get registration and pay

VAT and supplementary duties.

The chairman reminded the defence secretary also of the fact that the Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionarate (Dhaka north) also wrote a number of letters asking the authorities of clubs, restaurants and cinema halls run by army, navy and air forces in Dhaka Cantonment to pay VAT and other duties.

"But there was no progress in it," he regretted in his letters.

The chairman asked the two secretaries to take urgent steps in this regard.

It was reported in The Daily Star earlier that none of such establishments located inside different cantonments and BDR barracks pays any duty and tax to the government.

The report also mentioned the names of some establishments, which provide services to the general people and earn crores of taka annually. There are at least six such establishments in the Dhaka Cantonment. These are: Senakunja, Sagorika Cinema Hall, B A F Shaheen Auditorium, Garrison Cinema Hall, Sainik Club Cinema Hall and Golfers' Inn.