Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 2: A delegation of Chamber of Traders Federation led by its president, Neeraj Anand called upon Deputy Chief Minister, Kavinder Gupta and apprised him of the concerns of the trading community especially post implementation of the GST regime.
Anand requested the DyCM to use his good office to apprise the Finance Minister Altaf Bukhari of the problems being faced by the genuine traders of the State. He insisted that an early meeting with the Finance Minister at Jammu would help allay fears of small and medium traders.
CTF president pointed out that violating the spirit of GST Bill, our State has continued to charge Toll Tax on goods and rather further added the burden on common masses by increasing the rates of toll tax. This has resulted in unscrupulous trade from across Lakhanpur border ostensibly used to keep check on illegal activities.
“Just to mention that a 50 kg bag of cement cost Rs 65 extra for a Jammu dealer. The difference in rates has resulted in large scale pilferage in connivance from across Lakhanpur border. This issue has been raised by the concerned Cement Companies as well as their distributors with all appropriate Government authorities but the situation has not improved at all,” Anand added.
He further apprised Kavinder Gupta that challenges are same for almost all trades whether, ply board, sanitary, electric cables etc, he lamented that genuine dealers are losing business thus making their sustainability questionable while the State is also losing revenue.
Trade, he added is the mainstay of States economy and if we lose source of our main livelihood, it would further lead to migration of youth from this turbulent State and also results in shift of trade to the neighbouring States.
Anand while appreciating the e-Way Bill implementation, stressed that its implementation should be smooth and without harassment. He demanded that awareness camps should be held in all districts involving trade bodies and officials from the respective departments.
He cautioned that small traders should not be harassed on this pretext but rather should be helped in understanding the finer points of the law.
Replying to the queries raised, DyCM assured the delegation that all possible measures would be taken by the Government to address the genuine issues.
The delegation comprised of Parveen Gupta, Dinesh Gupta, Kailash Nath Naggar, Balwinder Singh, Vinay Gupta , Tushar Mahajan and Parag Abrol.
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