Congress urges PM to waive Rs 1000 fee for Aadhaar-PAN linking

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend it by six months to link PAN card with Aadhaar and remove the Rs 1,000 fee.

He mentioned the revenue ministry's notification that asked people to link their Aadhaar card with their PAN online on payment of Rs 1,000 by March 31, 2023 or else their PAN will stop working. “Furthermore, I request that maximum number of Indians live in extremely remote corners of the country where internet facilities are rarely available.

"And unscrupulous promoters have started extorting money as fees from these innocent citizens of rural India," Chowdhury said, urging the Center to direct postal authorities to help people free of charge.

He said the situation is turning into a nightmare and will bring extreme suffering to most people. “In this regard, I seriously request you to direct the finance ministry, revenue ministry to empower all local and branch post offices to help people link their pan card with their Aadhaar card free of charge and also extend the deadline. within the next six months,” the Congress leader said in his letter to the prime minister.

The last day to link PAN with Aadhaar is March 31, 2023. According to the Income Tax department, if you don't do so, unlinked PAN will stop working. Aadhaar-PAN linking was free before March 31, 2022. A fee of Rs 500 was imposed from 1 April 2022 and was later increased to Rs 1,000 from 1 July 2022.