[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When GST was rolled out with much fanfare on Friday midnight, one of the gains touted by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley was the abolition of tax collection centres at state borders that led to trucks queuing up for kilometres on highways.
While some of the congestion has eased (though trucks still need to flash an e-permit at interstate borders), GST has, however, brought all trucks carrying export cargo to a halt on the Indo-Bangla border.
Thousands of trucks with cargo have been held up at the international borders as transporters have been unable to furnish invoice with GST registration number that has become mandatory since the new tax system was rolled out.
Movement of trucks have been severely affected with exporters unable to furnish their GST registration. In addition, land port stations are yet to be equipped with basic infrastructure like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system.
Though the GST regime began on Saturday, problems surfaced on Sunday when trucks started plying after the Eid holiday in Bangladesh. Uzzwal Saha, secretary of West Bengal Exporters’ Coordination Committee, said many exporters were unable to provide the GST registration number because they had not received it yet.
Also, apart from Petrapole, none of the land port centres has EDI. As a result, Customs is refusing to pass the goods. “We had repeatedly requested the Centre to improve the infrastructure before introducing GST. But no one paid heed,” Saha said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
