Indore: HDG: Dry fruits traders demand repeal of E-way bill move

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Dry fruits traders have requested the state government that the e-way bill compulsion should be avoided for selling grocery dry fruits above Rs 50,000 from one district to another. They have requested that, in view of the inflation, the interests of small traders, e-way bill be applied to the sale of more than Rs 2 lakh only on the movement of goods from one district to another.

A delegation of dry fruits traders of the state, led by president of the Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ramesh Khandelwal, met finance minister Jagdish Devda in Bhopal on Monday. They also handed over a memorandum to him. Later, Khandelwal said they had drawn the attention of the minister to the important points.

Khandelwal said that the GST e-way bill was mandatory in the Act on the sale of goods from one province to another. But, in the state, the e-way bill is issued on the movement of goods from one district to another with effect from December 2, 2021> This is applied to mthe sale of grocery dry fruits amounting to more than Rs.50,000, including GST, from one district to another. Khandelwal said this was impractical and not justified.

The government always spoke about the Ease of Doing Business, Khandelwal said, but the truth was that complications were being brought into the tax system day by day and doing business easily was becoming difficult.

Khandelwal said, “We’re strongly opposed to tax evasion. For the development of the state, it’s necessary to get more revenue. But it’s also necessary to create such an environment for the traders that they can do business easily without the complexities of tax.

“There’s huge dissatisfaction among the grocery dry fruits traders of the state. We’re not in favour of any kind of bandh or agitation, but if relief isn’t given, there’ll be a compulsion to launch an agitation.” He expressed the hope that the minister would definitely favour the demand by taking the necessary action in the larger public interests and to save the business of small traders.