Mahasamund. As soon as the elections come, the way for extortion has opened for GST employees. The vehicles carrying goods from Raipur are being stopped at the Chowk and the employees are demanding GST bill. When the owners are not present at the spot, the vehicles are being stopped for hours and the vehicles are being released by demanding money through phone.
A businessman from Mahasamund told that recently he ordered three dozen coolers from Raipur. Since cooler is a seasonal business, it is prepared in small workshops, on which if GST is imposed then a cooler worth Rs 5 thousand will have to be sold for Rs 7 thousand. Despite this, the vehicle carrying the cooler was stopped by GST personnel near Ghodari Chowk and they started talking about the transaction to leave.
Another businessman told that his vehicle filled with buckets was stopped at 2 o’clock in the night. Whereas, these buckets were not being sold in the market but were being brought as gift items. After stopping the vehicle for one and a half hour, it was released with great difficulty. Traders told that GST workers are unnecessarily harassing them on the pretext of elections.
The officer has given assurance
District Chamber of Commerce President Shambhu Sahu said that a meeting of Chamber of Commerce members with GST officer Ashutosh Bhoi was held a day before. Where he complained about sending a fine notice of thousands of rupees for illegal collection of goods in Ghodari Chowk and not mentioning GST TIN number on the boards of shops. The officer assured the traders not to harass them unnecessarily.
The officer said to find out
Here, GST officer Ashutosh Bhoi said that a meeting has been held with the traders on the orders of higher officials. Complaints received from traders will be resolved. Traders will not be harassed unnecessarily. At the same time, due to the elections, the officer has talked about the personnel deployed on the border of the district unnecessarily stopping the vehicles carrying goods and finding out about illegal extortion.
As soon as the Lok Sabha elections were announced, a static surveillance team was deployed at Ghodari on National Highway 53 passing through Mahasamund district to check the vehicles, but here the traders are being harassed in the name of checking. In fact, along with the monitoring team, the State GST team is also checking the vehicles and stopping the goods coming from the traders from the capital Raipur. Traders are being asked for money under the guise of GST bill, about which traders have complained to Mahasamund Chamber of Commerce President Shambhu Sahu.
Sahu says that similar complaints were received during the last elections also and now in the name of Lok Sabha elections, the goods of GST team traders are being stopped. He said that the traders told him that the traders are being harassed in the name of GST bill. In the absence of GST bill, they are being asked for money. Sahu said that this information has been given to higher officials.
Action is being taken on the orders of the election officer: State tax officer
In this regard, State Tax Officer Nandram Kurre says that no such collection is being made. The GST team has been deployed on the orders of the District Election Officer. In Chhattisgarh, 15 items come under the purview of GST. It is mandatory to have GST bill on items worth more than Rs 50 thousand. Currently the department has recovered Rs 13 to 14 lakh in 7 to 8 cases. In this matter, GST Commissioner IAS Rajat Bansal said that we have not received any complaint in this matter.
