PUNJAB Pradesh Beopar mandal hold demonstration against levying of E-TRIP

Amritsar, July 26, 2013: Amrit Lal Jain, President, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal has said that on the call of mandal a peaceful demonstration was held today against the levying of E-TRIP by the Excise and Taxation Department Punjab from July 17 this year.

Thirty five trade and industrial association and there hundreds of member participated in this protest/rally outside the office of District Excise & Taxation Commissioner, Amritsar.

Protestors shouted slogans such as “Govt. should roll back E-Trip as it is not in the interest of trade & industry of the Punjab”.

A memorandum was submitted to Varinder Pannu, Assistant Excise & Taxation commissioner, District 1, Amritsar to be submitted to Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy chief Minister Punjab. The memorandum reads:

“In another move to devastate the already crippling trade & industry in state of Punjab, a public notice has been promulgated by the excise & Taxation department Punjab. The notification mandates that all the dealers who deals in cotton, yarn, mustard, plywood, Iron & steel (excluding scrap) and vegetables oil(edible & non edible) making transaction within the state of Punjab under vat rule 64A shall compulsorily upload the information on the website of the department www.pextax.com before the goods leave the premises of a dealer.

This public notice will applicable from 17 July, 2013.

A dealer will have to maintain computer, Internet ,printer with technical person and his estimated expenditure is likely to be incurred as follows :

Computer & printer                          RS. 40000 one time

 Internet connection        600 per month

 Technical person              Minimum Rs.6000 per month

So expenditure for one year will be Rs.79,200. Will this additional burden on VAT dealers will be borne by the department?

What if the server of the E&T department goes down. There is power cut or technical person is on leave or computer or internet connection is not working or any technical fault of both sides, weather the sales of goods should be suspended?

Similarly under vat rules 64B inter-state movement of goods following items namely iron & steel, Hosiery& readymade garments, all types of pipes including plastic pipes, Rice, Nut bolts/Fasteners bill amount exceeding 50,000 will have to follow the above mentioned procedure. When ICC barriers are established all around the state and form-36 is filled with complete information and moreover quarterly returns are submitted by the vat registered dealers to the E&T department then what is the necessity of this futile exercise. It looks the E&T department consider trading community to a bounded labourer. During the year 2012-13 traders and industrialist gave a growth of about 20 percent and even during current financial year in the first quarter vat dealers gave a growth of 11.9% when there is a deep recession in the market. Day to day change of vat forms, verbal orders giving targets to collect addition vat revenue ranging from 10 to 20 lac per month, VAT refunds of more than RS 400 crores are pending with the department. Detention of goods by the enforcement wing on flimsy ground and levying harsh penalty.

Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal feels it is practically not possible as more than 90% small traders and SMEs industrialist are not equipped with computer, Printer, Internet facility and other paraphernalia. Traders are under stress how to implement this uncalled for action of the E&T department.

Such an erratic notice, we believe,  has been issued without consulting the trade & industry of the state. The department should not engage in swooping the trade and industry like a bird of prey.

We, on behalf of the trade and industry of Punjab vehemently oppose this unsavory and uncalled for notice and request your good self to withdraw E-trip notice immediately and let the trade and industry flourish in an atmosphere of free air.”