Six mobile vans flagged off to raise awareness on GST

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

The government today flagged off six mobile vans to raise awareness about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) among the trader community and address concerns relating to it in the city.

The mobile help vans, which were flagged off by Finance Minister Manish Sisodia from the Delhi Secretariat here, will travel through various markets across the national Capital and there would be senior officials of the trade and taxes department on board to address issues over the next two weeks.

“The GST awareness mobile vans will move for around 15 days or so. Officials will be there to attend to the problems of traders. Traders can also give their suggestions on the new tax regime and they will be put before the GST council,” said Sisodia, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister.

Sisodia said the new helpline service will be reviewed after two days. The vans will stop at various locations and announcements will be made about their presence so that traders can easily locate them. The government is also going to set up help desks in markets for traders.

Ahead of implementation of the GST, Sisodia had expressed concerns over the new tax system while taking exception to the exemption of few sectors, including real estate and liquor.

Congress to step up stir against GST

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), under the leadership of its president Ajay Maken, will intensify its agitation against the wrong implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in its present form, which will not only adversely affect the small and medium traders and the consumers, but also the common people.

Maken said there is no similarity between the GST that the Congress wanted to introduce with 14 per cent as the outer limit and the GST that has been introduced by the BJP government with multiple tax slabs.

He said the small traders will now have to compete with big industrialists like Adanis and Ambanis after the introduction of the GST by the Modi government.

Addressing a press conference, Maken said the Congress had organised a massive demonstration on July 18 from Jantar Mantar to Parliament House to gherao it to protest against the GST, and in the next phase of the agitation, the party will hold demonstrations in all the 42 major markets across the city to create awareness among the people about the adverse impact of the wrong implementation of the GST through pamphlets.

Maken said the agitations against the GST will start on Sunday when demonstrations will be held at three major markets of the city — Timber Market, Loni Road, Shahdara; Gandhi Nagar Cloth Market and Central Market, Lajpat Nagar.

He said in one week, demonstrations will be held in 42 markets across the city.