At the stroke of midnight, for thousands of trucks plying the roads, the borders may suddenly become more porous. However, as trucks continue to carry goods taxed under the old regime, there are fears of increased harassment at borders.
Check-posts, which were once signposts of lengthy bureaucracy, and as truckers point out, areas of harassment, have been “legally abolished” across the State.
A Gazette notification issued by the Commercial Taxes Department on Thursday, a copy of which is with The Hindu , shows that 21 check-posts have been abolished. These include nine in and around Bengaluru — airport, railway station, and borders of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — four in Belagavi and Vijayapura, apart from those in Mysuru district, Mangaluru and Ballari.
“The very characteristics of check-posts will not exist. Their job was to find out if sales tax for the goods had been paid, and this is no more applicable from July 1,” said C.N. Shiva Prakash, Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and associate president of All-India Confederation of Commercial Tax Association. Mobile squads will continue to check for defaulters and violators, said an official.
At the check-posts, however, there was confusion as personnel who talked to The Hindu said they were yet to be given explicit orders on what needs to be done under GST. At the Karnataka-Kerala border near Mangaluru, where over 400 trucks transit daily, officials have been asked to scale down operations and only facilitate the exit of trucks (for, they need a validating signature or seal when they leave the state).
However, it is this confusion that is making goods transporters jittery. G.R. Shanmugappa, president, Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners’ and Agents’ Association, said around 40,000 trucks are in transit every day. And so, a truck coming from Delhi, which will take between 6 to 8 days to come to Bengaluru, will arrive at the check-posts carrying documents of sales tax and other receipts of the old tax regime. “Commercial tax check-posts are the biggest hurdles for us. The waits can be for more than an hour and drivers are harassed for bribes. If this continues, we will stop our trucks at the border and strike,” he said.
