Committee On Trade And Industrial Affairs Asks Department To Resolve Issue Of Traders On Priority

Chandigarh, April 16, 2015: Coordination Committee on Trade and Industrial affairs headed by Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Saroop Chand Singla and N. K Sharma today asked Excise and Taxation Department to resolve major issues related to Punjab traders on priority basis.

In a meeting held here at Punjab Bhawan, representatives of various trade associations have put forth issues being faced by the traders and industrialists relating to transformer, PVC manufacturing, agricultural tools, sports, hosiery, vegetable oil, steel and petroleum.

In the meeting, traders sought to impose entry tax on transformer industry as per the excise bill presented in Punjab Vidhan Sabha. They have also demanded to decrease tax on PVC manufacturing in the state and to amend the agricultural tools industry list by inviting fresh list of agricultural tools from Punjab Agricultural University.

Committee member Satish Dhanda suggested to declare the sports, hosiery and bicycle industry to be VAT free.

Meanwhile, traders also brought into the notice of committee that mustard, cotton and other seeds were being processed in other states but Punjab imposes more tax on these seeds vis-a-vis others. They demanded to lower tax rate on manufacturing of cattle feed from oil seeds.

Representatives of petroleum association raised the issue of smuggling of petrol from adjoining states. They informed that this smuggling was not only causing financial loss to petrol pump owners of the state but also has adverse effect on VAT collection in the state. Association demanded an immediate check on this smuggling.

Prominent amongst others present in the meeting included Anurag Verma Excise and Texation Commissioner, Narotam Dev Ratti Chairman Punjab Traders Board,  Madan Lal Bagga Vice Chairman Traders Board, Satish Dhanda President Udyog Wing, Charanjit Singh Channi President Veopar Wing Doaba Zone, Amrik Singh  AETC, Gurtej Singh, Joint ETC and T. S. Virk Deputy ETC.