Nearly 40, 000 trade associations, representing eight crore traders of the country, have extended support to the Bharat bandh call by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on February 26, demanding a review of the provisions of the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA), an apex body of the organized road transportation companies, has also decided to support CAIT in the Bharat bandh demanding the abolition of the new E-Way Bill or scrapping of certain rules. It has also urged the government to abolish E-Way Bill and track vehicles by using Fast-Tag connectivity to E-Invoice and to scrap the penalty on transporters for any time-based compliance target of transit and make diesel prices uniform across the country.
“All state level-transport associations have confirmed their support to AITWA in this one-day non-operation of transport in protest of the fuel price hike and scrapping of new E-way bill laws introduced by Government of India. The nature of the movement is to reject booking and movement of all E-Way Bill oriented goods for one day. All transport companies are asked to park their vehicles between 6 am to 8 pm as a symbolic protest. All transport godowns will display the protest banners. All customers will be approached by transport companies not to book or load any goods on February 26th, 2021,” said Mahendra Arya, national president at AITWA.
On extending support to the Bharat bandh call, AITWA National President Mahendra Arya said, “All state level-transport associations have confirmed their support to AITWA in this one-day non-operation of transport in protest of the fuel price hike and scrapping of new E-way bill laws introduced by the Government of India.”
“AITWA demands abolishing the E-way bill as the newly introduced E-invoice is good enough for preventing tax evasion. Vehicles may be tracked by the Government using Fast-Tag connectivity to E-invoice. Transporters should not be subject to any penalty by the Government for any time-based compliance target of transit,” said Arya. “Diesel prices should be reduced and mechanisms need to be discussed and created with the Transport Industry for future regulation. Diesel prices should be equalized across the length and breadth of the nation,” Arya added.
Transporters across the country have been using the latest amendment in the GST laws, which have halved the validity of the E-way bill, from 100 km per day to 200 km per day. For small and medium transporters the new rule has meant a higher and costly compliance burden, with penalties running into lakhs of rupees.
CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said, “AITWA has been writing letters to the Government of India mainly on issues of impracticable E-way bills under GST and unviable pricing policy of diesel.”
Announcing the Bharat Bandh last week, CAIT said dharnas (protests) will be held nationwide in 1,500 places demanding the Centre, state governments, and the GST Council to keep in abeyance the “draconian” provisions of GST.
